Amy's Peanut Soup Recipe

Monday's vegan dinner hit the spot. It's adapted from a recipe my friend Amy sent me. Most of the adaptations are marked with *s, but I might have missed marking some of the changes I made between her original and my bastardized version. We followed it with starfruit bread from Mango Hill farm that was packed full of butter and eggs and yogurt and decidedly not vegan. 

Amy's Peanut Soup Recipe

45 minutes plus prep

INGREDIENTS

• 1 red bell pepper (capsicum) chopped (125 grams)
• 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
• pinch of salt
• neutral oil
• 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
• 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic
• 1 Tablespoon cumin/jeera
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• *250 g mushrooms, roughly diced
• *Eggplant, roughly diced
• 1/2 pumpkin peeled & cubed
• 1 can diced tomatoes 
• 4 cups hot water
• 4 tsp stock powder
• 3/4 cup peanut butter, any variety (180g) 
• 500 g greens (seijan, bhaji, moringa, malabar)
• Chilies, jalapenos, sambal or sriracha sauce to your heat preference
• *1/3 cup Cilantro
• *2 Tbsp lemon juice
• * Cooked rice or quinoa for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in the bottom of a soup pot and sauté the red bell pepper (capsicum) and onions with a pinch of salt until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. 
2. Add ginger, garlic and cumin/jeera, eggplant and mushrooms and sauté for another 2 minutes or until fragrant. 
3. Add pumpkin cubes and stir to combine, then add the tomatoes with their juices and the stock powder + water. Simmer gently until the pumpkin pieces are tender, about 15 minutes. 
4. Place peanut butter in a medium bowl, add one or two ladles of hot soup and stir until emulsified, then pour the mixture back into the soup. Reduce heat to low and stir gently to combine.
5. Toss in the greens and the chilies. Cook on low to wilt the greens, maybe 5 minutes, stir frequently to prevent scorching. 
6. Turn off heat and stir in the lemon juice, garnish with cilantro and chopped peanuts. Serve over rice or quinoa. 

Serves 4 to 6.

Serving suggestions - over rice, with sourdough bread

Variations... aka life as usual in Suva

A couple days back I posted a recipe for Fiji Rum PawPaw Cake. And then I somehow came home from the market with a kilo of fresh bananas only to see that my neighbor had dropped off another kilo of bananas from her tree.

What to do with 5 pounds of bananas?!

Well, things have been a little crazy here this last week, so I threw all the insanity in a mixing bowl and came up with (drum roll please)

Fijian Banana Bread with Cognac Raisins 

(made in a bundt cake pan so I don't stress about the middle not cooking)

Fruit topping
1 cup dried fruit (get the box of mixed fruit at New World. Every time I get one it's a different mix)

Mixed Fruit from New World Grocery in Damodar City

.5 cup cognac (find the glass that your husband poured and then forgot because we had to pick the kid up from a program but is too good to pour out)

Add directly to the prepared bundt cake pan:
4 tablespoons butter
.75 cup brown sugar

Cake Mix
2 cups mashed bananas
2 tablespoons lime juice (see lime is pretty much all I buy. You might have lemons, but lemons don't go as well with tequila, so I don't usually buy them)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons baking powder
.75 cup butter, diced
4 eggs
.5 cup coconut cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lime zest (lemon, lime, orange, whatever you've got on hand)
1 cup dessicated coconut

I skip this next part, not sure why I keep leaving it on the recipe, but hey, here you go:
Boozy Glaze
.5 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
.5 cup liquor

Directions

Two tanks, in case one runs out while you're baking a cake. All you do is turn the switch to the full tank What, they're both empty? You don't say! 

Preheat your oven to 325°F/165°C. Or, if your oven isn't warming up fast enough, check to see if you need to switch to the other Fiji Gas cylinder. If both cylinders are empty, go get a new Fiji gas cylinder. But before you leave, soak the mixed dried fruit in the cognac. It shoudl soak for at least half an hour... but overnight...or a week is still ok. You know what, you need liquor soaked fruit. Just get a cup of dried fruit and soak it in your favorite rum or vodka or brandy. Just do it. We'll find a use for it down the road.

Oven warming up? Good. Now spray a large 12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray and add 4 tbs melted butter and .75 cup brown sugar to the bottom of the prepared pan. Add your cognac/fruit mixture to the sugar mixture in the bottom of the cake pan.

In a bowl, mash the bananas with the lime juice.

Cream your sugar and butter together, add your eggs one at a time, the coconut cream, vanilla and mashed bananas/lime juice. Slowly add in the dry ingredients, lime zest, and coconut, occasionally scraping the bowl, until well mixed. Add in anything you forgot. What? You didn't forget anything? Wow, you're reading the wrong blog. It's ok, we can still be friends, but no banana bread for you.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325°F/165°C for 1 hour. Check for doneness with a wooden pick after 60 minutes. Remove from oven and invert onto a serving dish. You might need to tap the bundt pan to loosen the sugar sauce and marinated fruit from the bottom now top of the pan. Or, if you're going to add the boozy glaze go to the next step.

Boozy Glaze: Let cake cool for at least 10 minutes. In a small pan on the stove, mix butter, brown sugar and cognac and bring just to a boil. Spoon the glaze onto the cake until it is completely absorbed. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight. Before turning out the cake onto a serving platter, warm it in a 325°F/165°C oven for 10 minutes to loosen the sugar mixture at the bottom of the pan. The cake will be very delicate.

Hey look, I got a picture this time.

Amerika's Fijian Banana Cake with Cognac Soaked Raisins

So, all's well that ends well. And this is kind of my story so far in Suva. It's not quite what I expected, there are unexpected stops and detours, but it's pretty good, especially with an occasional cup of booze thrown in.

3 December Update: Hub took the cake to a friend's house after work last night  (I had Fijian class). It didn't come back. I guess I'll never know how it turned out  (but I bet it was awesome)

Fiji Pawpaw Rum Cake aka Papaya Rum Cake

When I have too much ripe fruit I freeze it. Sometimes I then end up with too much frozen fruit. This recipe helps use up a lot of pawpaw aka papaya quickly.

Fiji Pawpaw Rum Cake

Fruit filling
1.5 cups pawpaw, diced (I defrost and drain the frozen pawpaw I've been accumulating, the pawpaw is softer and easier to mix after being frozen, the flavors also intensify with the liquid drained out)
1 cup dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, mixed fruit, whatever I have that day)
2 tablespoons citrus juice (lime, lemon, orange, whatever you've got handy)
.5 cup dark or flavored rum (in the interest of baking you should try a variety of rums, decide which flavors complement the pawpaw best. Or invite me over, I'll sample the options, give you my professional opinion)

Add directly to the prepared bundt cake pan:
4 tablespoons butter
.75 cup brown sugar

Cake Mix
2 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups granulated sugar <-- this is a lot of sugar, feel free to use less
1 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons baking powder **hint: this is going to be a dense cake
.75 cup butter, diced
4 eggs
.5 cup yogurt or coconut cream or evaporated milk or a mixture of all of them
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or more if you love vanilla the way I love vanilla)
1 tablespoon citrus zest (lemon, lime, orange, whatever you've got on hand)
1 cup dessicated coconut

Rum Glaze (I skip this step, it's already a very sweet very moist cake)
.5 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
.5 cup rum

Directions
In a bowl, combine the diced pawpaw, dried fruit and lemon juice. Add .5 cup rum and allow to soak for half an hour... or overnight...or a week.

Spray a large 12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray and add 4 tbs melted butter and .75 cup brown sugar to the bottom of the prepared pan. With a tablespoon strain 5 heaping tbs of the fruit mixture and add to the sugar mixture in the bottom of the cake pan.

Cream your sugar and butter together, add your eggs one at a time, the yogurt (or coconut cream), vanilla and remaining fruit mixture. Slowly add in the dry ingredients, lemon zest, and coconut, occasionally scraping the bowl, until well mixed. Add in anything you forgot because, well, someone had to sample the rum.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325°F/165°C for 1 hour. Check for doneness with a wooden pick. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. If skipping the rum glaze you can serve immediately after cooling, otherwise go to the next step:

Rum Glaze: In a small pan on the stove, mix butter, brown sugar and rum and bring just to a boil. Spoon the glaze onto the cake until it is completely absorbed. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight. Before turning out the cake onto a serving platter, warm it in a 325°F/165°C oven for 10 minutes to loosen the sugar mixture at the bottom of the pan. The cake will be very delicate.

Take a picture and send it to me. This cake goes so fast I can never get a picture first.