Happy Independence Day, Guinea-Bissau. This West African country, not to be confused with Guinea or Equatorial Guinea, gained independence on September 24th, 1973. We are celebrating the country by sharing the recipe of one of Guinea-Bissau’s prized dishes, Caldo de Mancarra or Chicken with Peanut Stew. 

Here are the ingredients you will need:

2 Pounds of Chicken

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Onion

300 mg of Peanut butter

White rice

1 Can of Tomatoes in tomato sauce (canned)

1 Habanero pepper (optional)

1 Piece of Dried Sea Snail/Cymbium Senegalense (optional)

2 Maggi Cubes

1 Lemon 

Kucharek seasoning (or any vegetable seasoning)

Black pepper

Salt

1 kettle of hot water

How to prepare:

Cut chicken into pieces and clean with lemon by squeezing the lemon juice on the chicken. Mince two cloves of garlic and cut one onion. Put the chicken into a pot, and add the onion, garlic, two Maggi cubes, a teaspoon of Kucharik seasoning, black pepper and salt. Mix the ingredients together with your hand. Cook on low heat for at least 30 minutes. Add water if needed so it won’t burn.

While the chicken is steaming, mix 300mg of peanut butter and a can of peeled plum tomatoes in a bowl until it looks like one ingredient. After mixing, add hot water very slowly, while mixing everything together. When you are finished, the peanut butter mixture should have a watery texture.

Sieve the peanut butter mixture into a new pot, to extract the hard particles from the peanut sauce mix. Add a piece of dried sea snail (Cymbium senegalense) or dried fish seasoning, and cook it for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add the peanut butter sauce to the steamed chicken pot. Mix thoroughly and let cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the oil comes on top. When the stew is about 10 minutes away from being done, add okra. It is optional to add a habanero pepper when it is almost done, for spiciness, and it is also optional to cut some cassava into pieces and add to the stew within the last 5 minutes of cooking it.

Serve over steamed white rice.

(Image by Joaowahnon via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BsG1P7pg6VA/ )