recipe-1

Recipe-1 › Curries of the world › Mafé

Dakar, Senegal

Mafé

West African peanut stew from Senegal and Mali: meat, root vegetables and tomato in a rich peanut sauce.

Mafé
Close to the base recipe Medium

Too hot for you? Use half the chilli (powder, paste or fresh chillies) and leave out the green chillies.

New here? How this page works

Recipe-1 is one simple curry recipe in nine steps: fry onions and green chillies, add your vegetables or meat, add chilli powder and turmeric, then water and salt, and boil. With small changes the same nine steps make curries from all over the world.

This page takes those nine steps and shows what to change to make Mafé. You don’t need to read anything else first: every base step is written out below. The changes are worked out on paper from what is typical for this dish; not yet kitchen-tested. Cooked it? Tell others how it went.

Green: the base recipe step (crossed out = do not use it for this dish)Red: what to do instead for Mafé

See the full base recipe (with timers and tips) · See all curries on the world map

You’ll need

How many people?4

The amounts change with the number of people; cooking times stay about the same (use a bigger pot for more). Taste as you go: you can always add more chilli or salt, but you cannot take it out.

Main ingredient: 750 g Beef or lamb in chunks (chicken also works).

From the base recipe

  • 2 Onions
  • 1 Green chillies
  • 3 tbsp Cooking oil
  • ½ tsp Red chilli powder
  • Turmeric not used
  • 1 tsp · 800 ml Salt and water
  • Ginger garlic paste not used
  • Cloves, cardamom and cinnamon not used
  • Garam masala (optional) not used

Add for Mafé

  • 150 g Peanut butter
  • 3 tbsp Tomato paste
  • 500 g Sweet potato, cassava or carrots
  • ¼ Cabbage wedges
  • 4 Garlic

Leave out

  • Turmeric
  • Whole spices

The nine steps, with the changes

Where a step has a red line, do the red line and not the crossed-out green base step. Steps with only green are done just as in the base recipe.

  1. Base step: do not useCut onions and chillies.

    Mafé: do thisChop the onions and one hot chilli.

  2. Base step: do not useFry in some oil for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

    Mafé: do thisFry with garlic until soft.

  3. Base step: do not useCut the vegetable(s) of your choice.

    Mafé: do thisCut the sweet potato, carrots and cabbage into large pieces.

  4. Base step: do not useAdd them and fry for around 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

    Mafé: do thisAdd the meat and brown it, then the tomato paste.

  5. Base step: do not useAdd red chilli powder and turmeric.

    Mafé: do thisAdd a little chilli powder; skip the turmeric.

  6. Keep frying until just before they start browning.

  7. Base step: do not useAdd some water.

    Mafé: do thisAdd water to cover and the peanut butter.

  8. Add salt.

  9. Base step: do not useBoil until the gravy is as thick as you like.

    Mafé: do thisSimmer 1 hour; add the vegetables for the last 30 minutes.

Serve: With white rice.

For meat and seafood, make sure it is cooked through: chicken until no pink remains inside; mutton, goat and beef need long, slow cooking.

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Food marks, as on packaged food in India: vegetarian · non-vegetarian (meat, fish or egg). Dishes with both marks can be made either way.

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