West African Tofu in Peanut Sauce (Mafe)
with root vegetables / couscous
While we often think of peanut sauce in Asian dishes, it makes a creamy, flavorful base for a popular West African dish called mafe. Most recently featured in 2016, this comforting stew of tofu and vegetables is flavored with garlic and ginger to complement the rich sauce.
Ingredients
- Tofu, extra firm - 16 oz, cubed (vacuum-packed preferable)
- Peanuts, roasted and unsalted (opt) - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Sweet potatoes - 3/4 lb, peeled and chopped
- Turnips, small - 2, peeled and chopped (sub carrots)
- Bell peppers, red - 1/2, chopped
- Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
- Ginger, fresh - 2 tsp, grated
- Peanut butter, creamy - 1/2 cup
- Tomato paste - 2 Tbsp
- Stock, any type - 2 cups
- Red pepper flakes (opt) - 1/2 tsp
- Cilantro - 3 Tbsp, chopped
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp
- Limes - 1/2, juice of
- Butter - 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Water - 2 cups
- Couscous, uncooked - 1 1/3 cups
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Couscous - (This makes enough for 2 nights.) Combine butter and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in couscous and remove from heat. Cover pan and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and season with salt. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Tofu - If tofu is packaged in water, press out liquid first. Then slice into cubes and season with some salt and pepper. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Peanuts - If using, roughly chop peanuts. One easy way to do this is by sealing nuts into a Ziploc bag. Then run a rolling pin over them a few times or lightly smash with a tenderizer. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Potatoes / Turnips / Bell peppers / Garlic / Ginger - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Peanut sauce - Whisk together peanut butter, tomato paste, stock, ginger, and red pepper flakes. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Cilantro - Chop cilantro.
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Make
- Place sweet potatoes and turnips into a microwave-safe pan or bowl. Cover with wet paper towel and microwave on high until sweet potatoes are tender, ~3 minutes. (Turnips should still have a bit of crunch.) Season lightly with some salt and pepper.
- Heat a Dutch oven or wok over medium-high heat and add first part of cooking oil. When oil is hot, saute tofu until golden brown, ~5 minutes total. Remove from pan and set aside. Return the pan to the burner and reduce heat to medium.
- To hot pan, add second part of oil, garlic, and bell peppers. Saute until garlic is fragrant, ~1 minute.
- Add sweet potatoes, turnips, and peanut sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer until sauce reduces slightly, ~3 minutes.
- Return tofu to pan, spooning sauce over the top. Continue to simmer until tofu is warmed through, ~4 minutes more. Season with some salt and pepper.
- Top with lime juice, cilantro, and chopped peanuts.
- Reheat couscous briefly in the microwave (reserve half for Wednesday). If it seems dry, fold in a splash of stock or water.
- Spoon tofu, vegetables, and sauce over couscous and enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
44 reviews
Adding extra better than bouillon helped with flavoring. I've made this three times, and this time I used just carrots and eggplant and also coated the chicken with cornstarch, and it worked well. Kids and husband loved it!
0 HelpfulI really liked this. Different flavor profile. I had some turnips and sweet potatoes to use and this was nice on a November evening. My toddler enjoyed it too and he’ll be eating leftovers for lunch this week.
0 HelpfulTasty, but a little underspiced - added extra red pepper flakes and some salt. Holds up nicely as leftovers.
0 HelpfulMade this in the Instant Pot. Sauteed the chicken, garlic and ginger. Doubled the curry paste and an entire can of full-fat coconut milk. Threw in a bag of frozen root vegetables (still frozen -- how great is that?!) and a couple of sweet potatoes. Closed up the IP and cooked on manual for 16 mins (next time I'm going to dial that down to about 10-12 mins). It ended up a bit soupier/waterier than I would have liked (probably the frozen veggies) and needed salt.
0 HelpfulI did make this in the crockpot instead of on the stove. That being said, I found the flavor lacking in this dish (first one I’ve felt this way about). I wish I’d have gone with salted peanuts instead of unsalted. Once, we added more seasoning, it was quite delicious.
0 Helpful