African sweet potato stew

Ingredients

• 1-2 onions

• 5-6 tbsp groundnut or other oil

• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

• 3 tsp grated fresh root ginger

• 1 tsp paprika pepper

• 0.5 kg sweet potatoes

• 1.5 tbsp mild curry paste (or less if you prefer)

• 400ml passata (tomato juice or chopped tinned tomatoes are fine)

• 4-500ml vegetable stock

• 300g-350g spinach leaves, trimmed

• 150g button mushrooms (I always put carrots in instead because I don’t like mushrooms. If you do this, they need to go in with the sweet potatoes to cook)

• 5 tbsp peanut butter

• 3 tbsp fresh coriander

• salt and pepper

Method

1. Peel and chop onions. Heat 3 tbsps of oil in a pan, add onion, garlic, ginger & paprika and fry gently for around 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, peel sweet potatoes and cut into bite sized cubes. Add curry paste to onion mixture and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and carrots (if using), stir to coat with the onion mixture and fry for 5 minutes. Add the passata and stock. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for approx 30 minutes (until the potatoes are almost tender).

3. Meanwhile, roughly shred the spinach leaves and cut the peppers into strips. If using mushrooms, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan or large pan, add mushrooms (if using) and stir fry for 5 minutes until beginning to release their juices. Add to the potatoes with the spinach and cook for a further 10 minutes (until all the vegetables are cooked through).

4. Mix a few spoonfuls of the stew juices with the peanut butter to soften it slightly, then stir the whole lot back into the pan. Add the coriander, season with salt & pepper and heat through.

5. Serve with rice or bread.