Chicken & Sweet Potato Mafé

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 brown onion (about 150 g) + 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• 2 tbsp tomato purée (30 g)
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400 g)
• 80 g peanut butter (about 4 tbsp)
• 1 chicken stock cube + 500 ml hot water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sweet potato (about 500 g)
• 2 carrots (about 100 g each)
• ¼ white cabbage (about 300 g)
• 200 g long-grain rice
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Flameproof casserole dish with lid
• Large saucepan
• Colander
• Chopping board and knife
• Peeler
• Wooden spoon

📖 Steps

1. Cut the chicken into pieces of about 4 cm and pat dry with kitchen paper. Peel and slice the onion, and chop the garlic. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 3 cm cubes, peel the carrots and cut them into thick rounds, and cut the cabbage into 4 pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a casserole dish over a medium-high heat. Brown the chicken for 5 to 6 minutes, turning, until well coloured on all sides (it will finish cooking in the sauce). Season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside on a plate.
3. Reduce to a medium heat, add the onion to the casserole and soften for 5 minutes, stirring, until translucent. Add the garlic and tomato purée, then stir for 2 minutes: the purée darkens slightly and loses its acidity.
4. Dissolve the stock cube in the 500 ml hot water. Pour the chopped tomatoes and stock into the casserole, scrape up the browned bits from the bottom, then return the chicken and add the bay leaf and carrots. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 15 minutes over a low heat.
5. Ladle some hot sauce into a bowl, add the peanut butter and mix with a fork until smooth. Pour it back into the casserole and stir well: mixed in separately like this, the peanut butter won't go lumpy.
6. Add the sweet potato and cabbage pieces, pushing them down into the sauce. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes over a low heat, stirring every 5 minutes and scraping the bottom: peanut sauce catches easily. The vegetables should be meltingly tender.
7. While it cooks, rinse the rice and cook it for 11 to 12 minutes in a large pan of salted boiling water, then drain. If the mafé sauce is too thick, add a little water; if it's too runny, remove the lid for the last 10 minutes.
8. Remove the bay leaf, taste and adjust the seasoning. The sauce should be thick and silky, with a light sheen of oil on the surface: that's the sign of a successful mafé. Serve piping hot over the rice, with a piece of cabbage per plate.