This Nigerian stew is literally one of the tastiest stews I've eaten. It's filling, hearty, delicious and full of traditional African flavours and ingredients from peanut and yam to sweet red pepper and beans. It's made with easy ingredients, and is made even easier by using Zim's Tribe Sauce, which is a divine African Sauce made by a small business whose aim is to get African flavours into our homes and on our plates. It's my take on an African peanut stew, and can encourage you to try new flavours and perhaps new ingredients! *this is a sponsored post with Zim's Tribe.
🍲Ingredients
This incredible African Peanut Stew doesn't take long to make and has pretty simple ingredients. I go over these wonderful items below.
Zim's Tribe Sauce - the absolute star of the show, and what allows you to easily make this delicious authentic African dish. It has all the flavours you need from pepper, garlic, sweet pepper, paprika and much more! Zim's Tribe makes African sauces and relishes, as well as infused oils. It's founded and run by the most lovely Nigerian guy who found that it was almost impossible to pick up an "African sauce" in the way you can pick up Indian or Italian sauces. The sauces are made from his own special recipe, which can simply be used as a dipping sauce if you fancy, as well as for full-blown meals. They conveniently range (thank you, Zims!) from mild, medium to hot and EXTRA HOT! I tend to go for the Medium heat one myself.
Smooth peanut butter - well, I'm a self-professed nut butter addict, so a stew with peanut in pleases me greatly! Peanut in stews is traditional in some African cuisine, which I am totally on board with! I love using Biona's Smooth Peanut Butter, and also eat it most mornings on my High Protein Superfood Breakfast.
Yam - this is a very traditional African vegetable, and delicious in Nigerian stew. It's a root vegetable that can be used in a similar way to potato. It adds a real thickness to the stew, especially when left overnight. It's a comforting carby vegetable, and if you haven't tried it, I really recommend it. You'll need to peel it (with a knife is probably easiest), and it's easiest to cut up with a proper chef's knife. The one I have is the Victorinox Chef's Knife which is very reasonably priced and fantastic for chopping bigger vegetables like squash. If you can't find yam, just use potato or sweet potato.
Zim’s Tribe Garlic Ginger Chili Oil - Zim's Tribe also do some amazing infused oils which are delicious for drizzling over salad, and are great for frying. I recommend that you fry the plantain with this oil for extra delightful flavours. You can of course just use your usual frying oil or even bake the plantain.
Plantain - another traditional ingredient that is just divine! A savoury kind of banana that you'll find in a lot of African and Caribbean cooking. It's delicious to serve as an added extra with this Nigerian stew, and I talk more about it in the Serving Ideas section below. If you can't find plantain, you can use unripe banana instead.
Beans - I can't be vegan and not love beans. They are full of protein and fibre (and so keep you super full) and are such an easy addition to any meal, especially curry and stews. You can actually use any kind of bean in this Nigerian stew (use whatever you have available). I love using pinto beans, black eyed peas or black beans in this dish. The dish uses one drained tin/can of beans, but you can of course cook your beans from dried.
Vegetable stock - a real store cupboard essential for me. It makes up the liquid of this African peanut stew, and so it's important you have a good vegetable stock. I use stock made by Nine Meals from Anarchy as it has no preservatives and is made from ACTUAL vegetables (yes, what a shocking concept, but not all stock really is!).
👩🏽🍳How-To
This Nigerian stew is simple to make, in part because you can use Zim's Tribe sauce for those key African flavours, which just makes this stew the star of your weekend! In summary you:
👩🏽🍳 Prepare the yam by cutting it into cubes. Let the yam cook until a fork easily goes through the yam pieces.
👩🏽🍳 In a saucepan put the Zim's Tribe sauce and vegetable stock. Cook for a few minutes then add the peanut butter, and make sure it's well combined.
👩🏽🍳Add the beans and cook for a further five minutes. Then add the yam but don't mix too well or the yam pieces will break up. If you leave the Nigerian stew to sit overnight it will get thicker.
👩🏽🍳 For the plantain (if using - it really adds to that traditional Nigerian feel), you cut it up and simply free in a bit of oil. Using an infused oil from Zim's Tribe makes it delicious, such as the Garlic Ginger Chili Oil.
👩🏽🍳 Serve on rice with the plantain, and sprinkle with fresh coriander/cilantro and salted peanuts.
Peel ⅓ of a yam Cut up the yam into chunks around 1.5" / 3cm each side. Boil in water for 20 minutes or until a fork easily goes through them. Get a saucepan ready and add the Zim's Tribe Sauce Add the vegetable stock. Use the stock to swill round the Zim's sauce jar to get everything out of it. Cook for a few mins. Add the smooth peanut butter. Mix well to combine. Add the beans and cook for a further five minutes. Add the cooked yam. Cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, but not too vigorously so the yam pieces stay whole. Cook the stew a little longer and it will thicken up (you could let it sit overnight to thicken up more) Prepare the plantain by slicing it up Fry with Zim's Tribe infused oil Serve as an extra with the Nigerian Stew 
Serve it all up with rice, fresh corriander and salted peanuts
🥣Serving
This Nigerian stew just on its own is delicious and full of those traditional Nigerian flavours. It's easily pimped up with some tasty extras, though. I've suggested fresh coriander/cilantro, salted peanuts (because they bring out the peanut taste EVEN more) and rice if you're extra hungry.
Additional to this, and very important to me as it's one of my favourite ingredients, is fried plantain. It's a traditional African and Caribbean food which is like a savoury banana. When ripe and then fried, it takes on a sweet taste which is just divine. You can fry it in any oil, but I fried mine in Zim’s Tribe Garlic Ginger Chili Oil for extra flavour.
You may also want some bread to mop up those mouth-watering African peanut stew juices. I made these incredible Jamaican Roti which are flakey and moorish, and just perfect for this dish.
❓FAQs
Yes. It freezes very well in an airtight container.
Other nut butters like almond butter will work if you can't have peanuts.
You can leave the beans out altogether or use something like tofu instead.
Yes! It's both gluten and soy-free. We have lots of other gluten-free recipes you'd love.
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If you loved this Nigerian Stew as much as we did, please share it with your friends and give us a comment below.
Vanessa x
📖 Recipe
Nigerian Peanut Yam Stew
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 1 jar (1¼ cup) Zim's Tribe sauce (choose your level of heat from mild to extra hot)
- ⅓ of a (2 cups) Medium African yam (this is about 500g or ~2 cups - use regular or sweet potatoes if you can’t find yam)
- 85 g (⅓ cup) Smooth peanut butter
- 1 tin/can Beans of choice (drained weight 1 ½ cups or 240g)
- 500 ml (2 ⅛ cups) Vegetable stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
Extras to Serve (optional)
- 1 Plantain (use an unripe banana if you can't find plantain)
- 1½ teaspoon Zim’s Tribe Garlic Ginger Chili Oil (or another oil)
- Bed of rice
- Handful Salted peanuts
- Fresh corriander / cilantro
Instructions
- Cut up the yam into chunks around 1.5" / 3cm each side. Boil in water for 20 minutes or until a fork easily goes through them. While the yams are cooking, prepare the rest of the stew and plantain.
- In a saucepan, mix the stock and Zim’s Tribe Sauce on a medium heat for a few minutes.
- Add the smooth peanut butter. Mix in well so it’s fully combined with the sauce and stock.
- Then add the beans. Let them cook in the sauce for a further 5 minutes.
- Optional for serving: Begin frying the plantain. Cut them up into slices about ¼ inch thick. Heat the Zim’s Tribe Garlic Ginger Chili Oil (if using) in a frying pan. Once it’s hot, fry the plantain for a few minutes on each side, and season with a little salt and pepper.
- Drain the yam, and add to the stew. Cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, but not too vigorously so the yam pieces stay whole.
- Serve the stew on a bed of rice, and with the plantain on the side. Sprinkle with salted peanuts and fresh coriander.
Gina says
The peanut butter adds such a nice richness to the stew!
Vanessa Sturman says
Oh it does, doesn't it? I'm happy with peanut butter in ANYTHING 😜
Cate says
Such a comforting and delicious fall meal! Love the Zim sauce in this!
Vanessa Sturman says
Oh thank you 😊 glad you enjoyed this meal x
Angela says
What an amazing find this recipe is. I have tried something similar with kale & peanuts and was looking for a new recipe. I am sure glad I found this one and will make it again.
Vanessa Sturman says
Oh that's great! Ooooh kale and peanut also sounds yum 😋
Tara says
Such wonderful flavors in this stew! It looks fantastic, especially paired with the plantains. Yum!
Vanessa Sturman says
Ha ha yes, I am also a plantain obsessive!
Anjali says
I hadn't heard of zim's tribe sauce before but bought it for this recipe and I'm so glad I did! That sauce was so flavorful, and it made this recipe super easy to make but so satisfying! We absolutely loved it!
Vanessa Sturman says
Oh so pleased to hear this! It really is super yum 😋