I asked Juliet to come over again, she asked if I wanted to make groundnut soup. I thought that sounded interesting and said yes. When she told me I needed peanut butter (ah hah, ground nut!) and I then explained that Jeffrey couldn't eat any nuts, so she said she'd make him his own stew. Perfect. On Tuesday we met at the Area Office where Brother Dumevi met us then dropped me off to my apartment while they went on to the market to buy ingredients. I had asked Juliet for extra peanut butter because I make cookies for the Elders every Saturday when they come over to talk with Jeffrey.
If you want to make groundnut soup, here is a recipe or here, I know I didn't catch everything Juliet did.
Here is a recipe for cabbage stew or here.
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| Juliet and Brother Dumevi |
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| They bought lots of ingredients for two different meals - soup and stew |
First she prepped the chicken. She didn't like the fact that it still had some small feather on it, so she burned them off, plucked them out, then washed and cut up the parts into smaller pieces to fit the pan.
Juliet added onions, garlic, ginger, and maybe salt and other spices and let the chicken boil.
Also a large pan of water was set to boil, and then broken rice was added.
Juliet washed all of her rice before she put it in the boiling water.
I am not sure what type of rice this was except white, but when it is all cooked it was VERY sticky.
Now that all the pans are bubbling away, it is time to prepare and wash some of the other ingredients.
Juliet peels off the skin and bones of the smoked fish.
I had to ask Brother Dumevi later, but I think he said the bigger fish was smoked salmon and the small smoked fish were herring. I just know when I got a small taste they both were good, not overly fishy just nice.
Juliet took some of the chicken out to reserve it for the cabbage stew.
Next she got out my largest pot and put peanut butter...
And tomato paste with a little water
I thought it was a very different combination.
She mixed it all together and put it on to cook.
Since Juliet supplies all of my peanut butter, I only have fresh ground.
Then she started adding things.
She chopped up onions and these bitty peppers. I do not know exactly what kind of pepper but they are hot. She blended the all up together and stirred them into the pot of peanut sauce.
While that all simmered and cooked......
Juliet chopped up vegetables for the cabbage stew
She is obviously very experienced and had this quick chopping motion that is a blur. Maybe I will video her next time...
She kept her mind on two things at once and would drop things in the peanut sauce while coming back to the vegetables.
She put the Kaco in with the peanut butter, tomato paste, water, onions, peppers (I wonder if I left anything out so far.....)
Back she came to chopping up the carrots and bell peppers for the cabbage stew.
She kept an eye out on her rice as she wanted it just right.
I think she is a south paw and doesn't use a chopping board very much. She has this cool motion in her hand that doesn't go through to the palm and she flips whatever vegetable over and drops all but the last little bit in the bowl or on the mat.
Next in the groundnut soup she ladles in the chicken pieces.
She adds the washed smoked salmon head to the soup.
Then she carefully peels the skin off the rest of the smoked fishes and picks out the skeleton and bones of each fish. Then she rinses the fish off and puts it in her groundnut soup base.
The pot is boiling and all the different smells are filling the kitchen.
Juliet had these special bags that only have one corner. She opens the little "bag" up and put a big dollop of rice then squishes it into the corner of the bag and swirls it up. The rice is almost condensed into a ball. She said to 'pinch' it off and scoop it in the soup.
I probably need to watch someone do that as I'm not quite sure what she means.
Juliet added garden eggs (a type of small eggplant - not purple but yellow) to the soup and tested it for flavor. She added some ginger, garlic, and some of the small peppers but whole this time.
She would test it out for thickness and was looking for a certain taste and consistency. I can't remember where, but I know she added the chicken water that had cooked the chicken earlier.
Juliet would test the soup with the back of her spoon. She would let it drop into the pot and also take a finger and swipe a taste.
While the groundnut soup was simmering away, occasionally spurting up in small geysers, she turned her attention to the cabbage soup.
She fried the reserved chicken with onions and probably some spices like garlic and ginger. Then took the chicken out.
She blended up some onions and one small pepper as Jeffrey doesn't like things too spicy. She added the blended onions to the oil that the chicken had fried in.
After it has simmered a bit, she added the cabbage and some whole sliced onions and garden eggs, and bell pepper.
And at the very last she added the fried chicken.
Yum, yum. I really liked this stew even though an accident happened and after the stew was done the burner got turned back on and it burned the bottom. The top main part was excellent!!
Meanwhile the groundnut soup simmered merrily on until Juliet proclaimed it done.
Juliet and I bagged up the dinners, two for Brother Dumevi and one for Juliet. Jeffrey had the cabbage stew and Juliet made sure some of my favorite fish was in my portion of the groundnut soup. Luckily somebody else got the head of the salmon.
Oh, I just remembered! The lady at the desk downstairs said she liked groundnut soup when I got chatting and telling her about my adventures. So, Juliet packed her up a portion too, and took it down to her when she went in the taxi with Elder Dumevi to get home.
Next month...probably Garden Egg Stew.
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