African Stew

This is one of my all time winter stew favourites, so so tasty and easy to make. The sweet potatoes really work in this recipe, the sweetness goes so well with the peanutty sauce.

Sweet potatoes are a really good source of fibre as well as containing a great mix of vitamins and minerals. These include:  Iron, calcium, selenium, they are also good source of most of our B vitamins and vitamin C. One of the main benefits of sweet potatoes is that they’re high in an antioxidant known as beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A once consumed.

Vitamin A is important for vision and the growth of the bones.  This vitamin also helps form pigments that allow our eyes to adjust to changes in light. Vitamin A plays an important role in the immune system by making white blood cells, which fight off bacteria and viruses.

You have everything covered with this dish, lean protein in the chicken, complex carbohydrate in the sweet potatoes and brown rice, nutrients in the veggies and it tastes amazing!

**For a Vegetarian/Vegan version just leave out the chicken and add in some chopped mushrooms instead.

African Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients

1tsp olive oil

4 chicken breasts cut in strips/chunks

1 large onion chopped

3 crushed garlic cloves

2tsp fresh ginger grated

half teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 TBSP medium curry paste/powder

350g sweet potatoes cubed

300ml passata

300ml veg stock

3 handfuls spinach leaves

4 tbsp peanut butter

handful chopped coriander

30g dry brown rice per person or half a packet per portion of brown microwave rice

Method

**IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS IN THE SLOW COOKER THEN PUT THE SLOW COOKER ON LOW ADD EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE SPINACH AND PEANUT BUTTER AND COOK ON LOW FOR 6-7 HOURS, THEN GO TO STEP 7 BELOW.**

1. Put the oil in a large pan, fry the chicken until just cooked and browned take out of pan and put in a bowl, fry the the onion, garlic, ginger and cayenne in the pan the chicken was cooked in and cook for 5-6 minutes, add the curry paste and cook stirring for 1 minute
2. add the chicken back in
3. cook the rice if using dry rice.
4. add the sweet pots, stir, fry for around 4 minutes, add the passata and stock
5. bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until pots are almost done
6. add the spinach and cook for 5 minutes
7. spoon a few spoonfuls of the stew juices into a mug/bowl and add the peanut butter to melt it a little, mix and then pour back into the stew, it should thicken slightly, season, cook for another few minutes and serve with the rice.