Mutuo
A typical West African meal has a starch base, meat, spices and is packed with flavour. Two years ago I had made a West African dish that was akin to ratatouille called Maafe or ground nut stew. This recipe I had from a magazine clipping with no markings as to its origin. It is for a West African soup called Mutuo, a chicken and bean soup that is served with a soft rice dumpling. Based on the proportions, this should make about 6-8 servings.
- 2 quarts (8 cups) stock
- 1 cup green pepper, chopped
- 1 eggplant, chopped
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb (900g) chicken meat, cooked and cubed (I recommend boiling in the 8 cups of water for the soup broth)
- 1 cup onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 can each: black beans and chick peas (my two favourite beans)
- ¼-½ tsp crushed chili flakes or hot sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes
Place all the ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes.
Rice balls (want ½ cup cooked per serving): mix 3 parts water to 1 part rice and a pinch of salt. Cook the rice until it is water logged. It should be sticky. Add enough All Purpose flour to the rice to make it a mushy dough (it doesn’t say the method but I used a wooden spoon to mix it in because the rice was still hot).
Serve ½ cup cooked in the bottom of each bowl, then ladle in the soup and serve.
