Serves     8 cups

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cups (8 oz.) eggplant, cut in ½”dice with skin on
1 15 oz. can petite-diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch collard greens, or any greens you choose
1 cup mashed sweet potato
½ cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper

Directions

To prepare your collard greens, or any other green you wish to use, strip the leaves from the stems and then slice into ribbons. Make piles of the ribbons stacked on top of one another and then thinly slice the greens. You don’t want to have long stringy greens falling from your soup spoon, so cut them accordingly.

Heat a soup pot with one tablespoon of oil and add the diced onion. Brown lightly. Add one more tablespoon oil and add the diced eggplant. Sauté for five minutes.

Next add the tomatoes. I used Muir Glen petite-diced, fire-roasted tomatoes. If using regular diced tomatoes, I would give them a going over with your knife to chop them a bit smaller. Add the kidney beans, along with three cans (use your bean can) of water. Add the sweet potato and salt, along with generous grindings of black pepper.

(At this point, you’re probably wondering why you wouldn’t just add diced sweet potato instead of taking the trouble to bake and mash. You could, but the mashed sweet potato gives the soup a lovely color once you stir it in, and it also helps to thicken the soup as well.)

Bring the stew to a boil and then add your chopped collard greens, and turn down to a simmer. Let the stew continue to simmer for 30 – 45 minutes, or until it looks done. Add the peanut butter off the heat and stir until it is melted and distributed throughout. Garnish with chopped peanuts.

Recipe and photo credit: Linda McElroy

Country:
Rwanda


Notes and Instructions