Kansiye (Guinean Stew Served Over Rice)

Terrible but true, when I think of African food the images that generally come to mind are ants on a twig or some sort of carrion eaten as a starving person's last resort for life.  And, even though most people in Guinea are only able to afford one meal a day (a statistical average), my ridiculous assumption of their culinary skills is indeed far from fact.  A nation that thrives on okra and peanuts, they have found a way to make do with the items at hand in a tasty and filling way.  This meal of Kansiya, a Guinean stew served over rice, was no less adequate in that way.

Since lamb is a little more rare to find in our markets, I opted to use beef.  Any rough or cheap cut will do - the hour of cooking time will create nice and tender pieces of meat in the end.  My husband initially scoffed at this recipe when I told him that tomato sauce was to be mixed with peanut butter.  However, since the end result formed such a rich sauce, similar to that of a curry, he was happy.  He even came back for seconds.  And, so did I.

Ingredients:

1 lb beef or lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 Tablespoons oil
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon thyme
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
3 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups of cooked rice, to serve

Instructions:

1. Brown meat in oil in 10-inch frying pan.
2. Add onion, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic, parsley and clove.
3. Combine tomato sauce and 1 cup water, add to meat mixture and stir well. Dilute peanut butter in remaining cup of water and add to mixture.
4. Cook over medium heat for 1 hour, or until meat is tender. Serve hot over the cooked rice.

(The original recipe came from this site: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Kansiyeacute-Traditional-Recipe-from-Guinea-West-Africa-310432)