As y'all know, I take nothing for granted. Even surmounting in tiny ways my physical challenges.
The pot above is a bit of an achievement for me. I was talking of my spicy African peanut soup to someone last week and I thought to myself: I must pick up the ingredients. Next thought was: I can't stand that long on my legs, the pain will kill me.
Then I thought, what odds, give it the old bash. You need to surmount some of these physical challenges of cooking great stuff from scratch.
I took all that cooking and baking stuff for granted. As we do. Inject some health issue and we can be brought to reality quite quickly.
I tackled the recipe, chopping, peeling, slicing, but slowly. Using multiple cutting boards and resting in between.
And Lard Thunderin', as we say out here, look at the pot! All done. And note: this is a completely vegan recipe.
Now some of you will want the recipe and nothing is formalized and basically doesn't need to be but here goes, just a list, be sure to simmer the veggies lightly in oil first to give that added oomph:
Large can of pumpkin
1 can of coconut milk
Goodly amount of chopped up spinach, stems removed
1 or 2 yams/sweet potatoes depending on size.
1 large purple onion chopped
1 smallish red pepper chopped
1/2 of jar of pure peanut butter
A couple of cloves of chopped garlic
A smattering of finely chopped ginger and chili peppers
2 heaping teaspoons of good quality curry powder or enough to personal taste.
Use up all your saved veggie broth or buy a large container of same or use veggie cubes.
Add water to taste
Peanuts to decorate serving bowl.
Stir well at 30 minute intervals, I use a timer to remind me.
Use immersible blender when cooked to smooth out onions and yams - but not too fine, palatable chunky is good.
That's it.
I usually simmer it for a few hours.
If you try it let me know or suggest your own modifications, improvements. Or pass on a treasured recipe of your own.
We're all in this together!
I u sed to spend hours in the kitchen but these days I am tired almost before starting so I know exactly where you are coming from. And kudos for taking on the challenge.
ReplyDeleteJust once I made a version of this soup but it didn't look as good as yours! maybe I'll try again
Kylie I froze 6 generous pots of these, gave 1 away, had 1 for din tonight and 1 for tomorrow night. I'd forgotten the marvelous yield of this. I'm going to try a few more of my old faves, I'm quite encouraged.
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I love cooking, although standing has been tough for me lately. I made a soup much like this last week, though. It was a sweet potato peanut soup.
ReplyDeleteSAW You can relate to the standing issue. It occurred to me as I was doing this that, hey, no marks taken off for sitting down between bouts, or leaning. :)
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It does look good. I hear you on the need to triumph over our physical challenges too. A few years back, unable to cut the damn thing, I threw a pumpkin onto the back deck. It broke into pieces very satisfactorily. I love that pumpkin curry - but it tasted particularly good that night.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great dish and very nourishing. Throwing the pumpkin, LOL.
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I can commiserate with you on the standing and cooking. I am short and when we had our old cabinets painted and put back in I had them raised a bit to a nice leaning height. I find I can last longer if I can lean. Washing dishes is something I can do, drying isn't. I have to cook in stages now. First assemble ingredients...rest prep...rest
ReplyDeleteetc. It works though and my cooking is pretty good.
Good idea to lean, I do that. I disguise it quite well too when I have company :)
DeleteStages are good.
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I have stopped cooking as the domain has been taken over by the daughter in love who insists that I stay retired and enjoy what she has to come up with but, she is usually quite amenable to my suggestions. I will certainly request her to give this a shot. I would however use coarsely ground pepper instead of curry powder and roasted and coarsely ground peanuts instead of peanut butter. I would also bung in a fistful of whole raw peanut kernels to cook along with the rest but remove it before the blending and add it back afterwards. I will report to you when I get this done and taste it.
ReplyDeletePlease do Ramana, it does sound scrumptious.
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Looks yummy! I'm gonna try it!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who cannot stand for long enough to cook, her diet is mostly ready-made frozen stuff. Between limited income and mobility issues she has compounded health issues due to poor diet. People don't realize the implications of not being able to stand for longish periods of time.
OK, this is a real simple recipe and it is specifically for when you're down with a miserable cold or flu. It's not vegan though.
Ingredients: onion, potato, hard cheese (I use cheddar).
Boil potato(es).
Chop onion fine.
Cube cheese.
Mash potato with some of potato water to make a soupy consistency, if needs be nuke it to proper heat. Salt to taste.
Place cubed cheese in a bowl.
Pour over the potato mash and swirl a bit to melt cheese.
Sprinkle raw chopped onion on top.
Eat.
I'm not a great cook but this is so good when you're feeling miserable and don't have the energy for much else.
Thanks for this Annie. I might back it tho to dry it up a bit and melt the cheese more?
DeleteWhat were those potato dishes called mixed with egg and fried, it escapes me now. Delicious.
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Is that really your fridge? Cute! -Kate
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm very fond of the commercial peanut sauce in mine.
Yes that would be a good idea too. No clip art but I thought it a great idea if I took all the junk off the door :)
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Once upon a time, I could walk into the kitchen, look in fridge, freezer, cabinets and come up with ingredients for a meal. Now, I think way ahead of time. I collect the ingredients, make sure they are all there. Later, I do the preliminary steps. Maybe setting the pot or bowl in the fridge to wait until later when I come back and finish the process and serve the meal. It takes many steps now, but I'm okay with that. I have lots of time now.
ReplyDeleteI need to be more organized like you and pre-prepping some food.
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Good for you! Standing any length of time can challenge me so understand what you say. That soup looks deliciously!
ReplyDeleteThanks Joared, we could take turns in the kitchen!
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Mmmm, looks good. We just got back from SC where peanuts in one form or another are always on the menu. And I too love the 'fridge art.
ReplyDeleteYes I've always enjoyed my trips to SC.
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That peanut curry soup looks good and healthy.
ReplyDeleteIt's a complete meal Gigi.
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That's your fridge?? I love it. : )
ReplyDeleteWhen I cook I almost always cook for 4 sometimes 8 depending on the recipe. We eat it 2x and freeze the rest. I love leftovers, so easy to heat up and eat. I love days when the biggest food decision is what to get out of the freezer. I even bought some 3/1$(US) aluminum containers with cardboard lids to use for foods that are bulkier. Soups I put in quart storage bags, freeze flat and then they all stand in a box in the freezer.
Your soup sounds so good, but I'm to the point where I can only stand a very short time (like 10 minutes) before my legs give out, so I make a similar but simpler version. African Peanut Soup
ReplyDelete• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large can unsweetened pumpkin
• 1 medium tart (Granny Smith) apple
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup coconut milk
Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan. Cook the onion over medium heat, stirring frequently until it is translucent.
2. Core and peel the apple into thin slices. Add the apple, pumpkin, veggie broth, cinnamon, and pepper sauce. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until all ingredients are soft.
4. Stir in the peanut butter. Carefully transfer the soup to a food processor or blender (or if you're lucky, use an immersion blender), and adding coconut milk, puree until smooth.
5. Serve hot. Creates 6 servings.
This is one of our favourite winter soups. I can break it up and cut up the onion and apple at different times, and I also cheat and blend the apple and onion in my small blender with some coconut milk while they are cool and add them while the soup cooks at the end. That way I don't have to handle the hot and heavy liquid in the end because it's too heavy for me to lift. As my muscles have weakened I've had to find workarounds in the kitchen or we'd never eat!