Spice up your groundnut sauce!

Long gone are the days when preparing groundnut sauce simply involved boiling the pounded nuts or paste and then later adding salt and a few vegetables or beef or fish before serving. Cookery is all about creativity and there is no reason why you can’t spice up groundnut sauce, to enhance the taste, after all ‘the taste of the pudding is in the eating!’

Ingredients
300g groundnut paste
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
1 chicken stock cube
2 large tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp Royco
1 bunch green leafy vegetables
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

Method
1. Finely grate the garlic, slice the onion and finely chop the tomatoes. Wash the greens as many times as necessary to remove all the dust/dirt and chop finely.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until they just begin to colour. Add the garlic and fry stirring until golden.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir well, and cook with the pan covered on medium heat, until the tomatoes are cooked, adding a little water during the cooking to prevent burning. Add the tomato paste and cook stirring for a few minutes. Add a little water to make a thick paste and continue cooking for a few minutes.
4. Dissolve the Royco in a little water and add it to the tomato mixture. Cook stirring for a few minutes, adding a little more water to make a thick sauce. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes.
5. Add the groundnut paste and cook blending it well by stirring while gradually adding a little hot water. You may have to remove the pan from the heat and first blend the paste well, depending on how thick it is. When the paste is well blended and there are no lumps, return to the heat add about ½ litre of hot water and bring to the boil stirring. Reduce the heat, add a little more water and simmer until groundnut are cooked.
6. Finally, add the greens and salt and cook simmering for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with your favourite staples and a glass of chilled fruit juice.
Variations
• Instead of green leafy vegetables, garden eggs (ntula), dried or fresh mushrooms and cooked beef and chicken may be added to the groundnut sauce towards the end of the cooking. Cook the meat by first roasting, grilling or frying in very little oil, before adding it to the sauce.
• Dried or smoked fish gives a wonderful flavour to groundnut sauce. Wash the fish and tie in individual portions with clean pieces of banana fiber or string, before adding it to the sauce, towards the end of the cooking. You may also wash the fish and pick out all the bones, before adding it to the sauce, especially if cooking for children and the elderly.