If you clicked on this, you’re either curious about or familiar with this dish. No… I’ve never been to anywhere in Africa – yet. My mom used to teach English to some Senegalese immigrants in the city. She’d visit their apartments, instruct them, and they’d feed her. This was one of the dishes that they prepared that she LOVED so much that she got them to teach her how to make it. It quickly became a holiday staple in my family and anyone who has tried this has loved it as much as we do! The traditional recipe is often made with cassava leaves and served with fufu. Now, as with a lot of African dishes, this calls for palm oil. Relax! If you find yourself an African grocery store, you can find African palm oil and avoid that Indonesian bullshit (they kill orangutans). So here’s the recipe (and it’s super flexible):

Ingredients:

3-4 bunches of greens (collard or kale are my favorite, but you can use cassava, spinach, even okra if you like gross things, whatever)
1 smoked turkey wing (smoked fish is more traditional, but any smoked meat will do, really)
3-4 chicken thighs (any meat will do as well… we’ve made this with canned mackerel, salmon, stewed beef, etc)
2-3 tablespoons of palm oil (NOT from Indonesia)
1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter (just trust me here)
1 diced onion (optional because I always forget to add this and no one cares)
1 diced tomato (optional for the same reason as the onion)
1 hot ass pepper (scotch bonnet, habanero, etc)
1 tablespoon curry powder (this was one of my mom’s modifications)
African pepper to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place smoked turkey wing in a large stock pot and fill it with water until it just covers the meat. Chuck in the hot pepper whole.
2. Cook on medium-low heat (covered) for several hours to release the flavors of the turkey meat into the water
3. While the pot liquor is simmering, thoroughly clean and cut your greens. If you don’t know how, I don’t know what to tell you… you’re probably in over your head and should just go make a sandwich instead.
4. Add the chicken thighs, onion, tomato, and palm oil to the pot
5. After the chicken is cooked white, add the greens, curry powder, salt, pepper, and African pepper to the pot and cover it.
6. Once the greens cook down, stir it all up and make a pocket of only liquid somewhere on the side
7. Add the peanut butter to that pocket, but only stir it within that space until it’s fully melted. THIS IS IMPORTANT! You don’t want to be eating a delicious, savory meal and encounter a clump of peanut butter! It will fuck you up and you won’t want to eat anymore. It needs to be melted!
8. Once the peanut butter is fully melted, stir to distribute it to the rest of the stew.
9. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so and it’s done!

Notes: If you add too much palm oil, you might get the shits. You’ve been warned. The peanut butter is a thickening agent and is optional… but really only skip it for allergy reasons. It does add an extra oompf to the taste.

You can serve this over rice, couscous, fufu, or just eat it by itself.

Enjoy!