To be clear- I would bless the rains down in Africa to eat this soup.

Ok obligatory Toto comment complete.

Most people die for peanut butter but they primarily think of our friend jelly, chocolate, or a spoon. They don’t think of a super satisfying savory application like this soup. But I gotta get ya all to expand ya mind. When I think of peanut soup I think of melty peanut butter and I’m not happy about the idea. What I don’t think of is ginger and freshness and greens and spice and everything that makes this soup too legit.

The nice thing is this is probably one of the most simple soups I’ve ever made. In a recent African based novel I read the characters had to boil, scrape, bath, pray to and essentially worship the peanut in order to consume it. That’s a lot of work to chomp a nut. Fortunately, we can get our peanuts in the blink of an eye and I think my gratitude for this is in congruence with female thoughts everywhere.

I’m pretty sure you guys think it’s hilarious that I’m calling this “West’ african peanut soup. When I mentioned this verbiage to my dad he said he only eats “North East” African soup (classic dad joke). But each region has very different cuisines and methods so here we are. Also I get that this recipe is a walking cliche. Sriracha is not exactly “African” let alone “West African” but it gives the chili-like effect with the effort limited to squeezing a tube verses dealing with raw pepper. Peppers are essentially weapons at war against my eye and no matter how hard I try I end up touching my eye like an idiot when dealing with them so Sriracha keeps me safe which is a pro.

Speaking of pro’s… let’s summarize:

-There are very few ingredients in this soup and they are all easy to get
-Peanuts are big in Africa because they are a cheap way to get some protein and this is no exception!
-This soup comes out INSANELY creamy yet has no DAIRY making it vegetarian and vegan and delicious
-The color of this soup is awesome… as my girlfriend Lynne says “if it isn’t neon it shouldn’t be on”
-You can cater the spice level to whatever your body wants which hopefully is aggressive
-This recipe has kale on kale on kale without feeling like you’re essentially eating a kale pile- proooooo

From Cookies and Kate

You’ll need:

6 cups of vegetarian stock (ok I’ll admit it I used 4 cups stock two cups water because I was being chinsy about buying another thing of veg stock)
I red onion, chopped
3 tablespoons or more peel and minced fresh ginger
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt (wow so little this is awesome)
1 bunch of kale (or collard greens) ribs removed and leaves chopped into strips or whatever you want
0.75 cup peanut butter (I used a natural chunky one)
0.5 cup tomato paste
SIRARCHA
Cooked Quinoa (if you need help with this see here)

In a dutch oven bring broth to boil. Add onion, ginger, garlic and salt (feel free to add more of these ingredients if you’re awesome or less if you’re not). Cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.

finger paint

In a medium bowl combine the peanut butter and tomato paste and try not to feel like you are in finger painting class. Then transfer 1-2 cups of the stock to the bowl and whisk until smooth. This is kinda like when you make my hot chocolate.

that color

Pour this mixture back into the soup and mix well.

kale on kale

Add the kale and season with sriracha to taste.

Just keep adding and tasting until it is at the heat level you like then add a little more. Simmer for 15 minutes over medium low heat and serve over some quinoa. This soup is just everything… get on it.