Hot, spicy African Groundnut Soup for a cold winter's day.

HEY! Howsitgoin?  Happy New Year!  It's been a while, and with the holidays and some travel, I haven't really had the time or energy to write.  In the spirit of getting back to things and starting off the new year on a good, healthy note, I bring you African Groundnut Soup, A la Top Chef's Carla Hall.  As with most people, I find all TV reality shows to be truly lame, with the exception of the ones I watch, and the one I like to watch without exception is Top Chef.  Go figure.    This season is exceptionally cut-throat, as it is an all-star season, featuring contestants who finished in the top three of their season, or who were, for some reason or another, ousted early from the show for one bad day in a thousand.  In other words, the cooking talent is truly top notch.  The recipe that follows is a version of "cheftestant" Carla Hall's week 4 episode winning entry.  I am used to making soup that takes a short time and only a few steps to prepare, and then cooks without my interuption.  This one has a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients, and it took forever to prepare, but the taste is unforgettable and well worth the trouble... at least once!  I have simplified a few things and altered ingredients for convenience (mainly to save me a trip to Whole Foods in the snow!), but I believe the taste profile is pretty close to the original.  Warning:  The recipe makes a lot of soup... like 12 to 18 servings as pictured.  You may want to cut it in half.
Here is Carla's ingredient list, with my alterations:
Spice Mixture
3 Tbsp Cumin
1 1/4 Tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp cayenne pepper
5 Tbsp Chermoula Spice Blend
I had to look this last ingredient up, and found out it is frequently a paste, and that the ingredients change a bit according to where you look.  I found a recipe for a dry chermoula spice blend that is as follows:
1 X ground cumin
1 X ground coriander
2 X sweet Paprika (I used 1 X smoked and one X sweet)
1 X cayenne pepper
Pinch (large pinch) of saffron threads, ground between fingers
You can make as much as you want and save what you don't use.  In my case X=1 Tbsp.
Combine these ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Broth and Vegetables
3 Tbsp cold pressed peanut oil (I didn't have any, so I used extra virgin olive oil.  Maybe canola oil would have been a better substitute, but I didn't think of it in time, and didn't really notice in the end...)

3 large onions roughly chopped (I used 2 large vidalia onions)

1 bulb garlic, peeled, smashed and minced (this came to about 4-5 Tbsp in  my case)

6" ginger, peeled and sliced 1/4" (I used about 3 Tbsp minced)






1 28 ounce can of crushed fire-roasted tomatoes (I didn't have fire-roasted, so regular it was)
4 quarts vegetable stock (I used Fat Free, Low Sodium Chicken broth, again, 'cause that's what was in the cabinet.)
2 fresh bay leaves (If by "fresh", Carla meant "dried", then mine were fresh.)
3 pounds sweet potatoes (I had 2 1/2 pounds, the very last remains of the 2010 CSA goodies!)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 pound Azuki beans (I used Goya "small red beans", as I could not find Azukis.  I have NO idea what difference this would make as I have never had Azuki beans to my knowledge.)
2 Poblano peppers (I used 1 long hot)
3 red peppers (I used 1 red, 1 yellow)
10 plum tomatoes
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch mint
Lime zest, to taste
Garnish
1 cup roasted, salted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 lime wedge per serving
Got all that?! OK Here we go.
First you wanna cook yer beans, as they take a while to soften.

Put them in a large pot with a good amount of water, and two bay leaves.

Boil until soft.  In my case, they took about 3 hours and never got fully, really, REALLY soft.  Sometimes that happens.  Maybe that's where the Azuki beans would have helped!  When the beans are done, drain and rinse them and set aside to cool.

While the beans are cooking, peel and dice the sweet potatoes, toss them in a little oil, add salt and pepper and roast in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes...

until they get nice and tender and oh so tasty!

While this is all happening, roast your peppers and tomatoes on an open flame, or in a broiler.  (I didn't have fresh tomatoes until Erika got back with groceries shortly before I finished the whole project, so I didn't roast them, and I regret that.)

When roasted, put in a paper bag and close top till cool.

When cooled, peel, seed and dice the peppers and tomatoes.  Here, just the peppers.

While the peppers are cooling, start on the broth by sauteeing the onion in oil for 5 minutes.  Then add the garlic and ginger and cook 5 minutes more.  Add 1/2 the spice blend, the can of crushed tomatoes, and the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer for at least 1 hour.

strain the solids out of the broth, puree in a blender with some of the broth, and then return the puree to the broth.  A nice professional china cap strainer would have been real useful here.

Return to a boil, and reduce temp to simmer.

Whisk the cup of peanut butter with 2 or three cups of broth until smooth, then return to the broth.

At this point the broth is ready, and should just be kept at a simmer.

Combine the beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, chopped parsley, chopped mint, and lime zest in a large bowl, mixing gently and seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

...pretty, aint it?

Place 1 cup of the vegetable mixture in a bowl, and ladle the broth on top.

Add a garnish of chopped roasted peanuts, a bit of the remaining spice blend, and serve with a wedge of lime.

This soup is fantastic!  The layers of flavor, the texture, the heat of the cayenne, the smooth roasted potatoes, the sweetness of the beans...  This soup was well worth the time and effort, as I stated earlier, at least once!  ...All that, and it's VEGAN too, well... it would have been if I had had the vegetable stock...

Anyway... Enjoy!