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Pakora
Naz Deravian
30 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
30
50 minutes
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Finely mince 6 cloves garlic and the ginger with a pinch of salt, plenty of black pepper and crushed red-pepper flakes to taste. Season chicken all over with salt, and rub with the garlic mixture. Marinate for three hours or overnight, refrigerated.
Finely chop the remaining 6 cloves of garlic. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the onion, chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the onion is starting to become translucent. Stir in the fish sauce, then the tomato paste, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the paste and onions have combined and are a shade darker. Stir in 6 cups water, scraping up any browned bits.
Add the chicken, bring to a boil and turn heat down to a moderate simmer. In a mixing bowl, stir a cup of the cooking liquid into the peanut butter, a splash at a time, to loosen it. Pour the peanut butter mixture into the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots, and simmer 10 minutes. Peel and cut the sweet potato and waxy potatoes into 1½-inch chunks, add them and simmer 30 minutes, until the vegetables and chicken are tender and the sauce is like a very thick gravy. (The oil will be separating in the sauce.) If the chicken and vegetables are tender but the sauce is still a little loose, remove them, and let the sauce cook down. Add the chile if using. Taste, adjust seasoning with salt and serve over white rice.
Colonialism didn't bring Vietnamese fish sauce to the kitchens of Senegal. The depth of flavor in authentic mafe comes from small amounts of potent smoked dried fish. It is the je ne sais quois of mafe, just as fish sauce provides the je ne sais quoi of many southeast Asian dishes. In this recipe fish sauce is a convenient substitution for dried fish, and that's why is should be added.
Uuy. And that's not even counting a healthy serving of white rice to soak up the sauce. I learned how to make a version of this from a Gambian friend in high school and he used much less oil (maybe 2-3 T.) and peanut butter (about 1/2 cup for a 3 to 3-1/2 pound chicken). Still very tasty.I love this dish but if you don't want to use up your entire daily calorie allowance in a single meal, I think you can reduce the high-calorie ingredients without suffering much loss of taste.
I used to live in Senegal and have made this many times. A few of suggestions: 1.) ditch the cabbage and add eggplant instead. Throw it in early so it’s browned and a little mushy. Cube it and salt it beforehand to get rid of the bitterness. 2.) Powdered PB works great and mixes well. Good for controlling how much peanut flavor you receive. 3.) Ditch the tomato paste and blend up some sun-dried tomatoes. Better flavor. This was my fav dish living in the village. Enjoy!
I grew up in Senegal and Mafe is by far my favorite dish. I never liked cabbage, so I don’t include it—but occasionally it’s a nice addition. You can add all kinds of veggies, replace the chicken with lamb or beef and it’s just as good. Two secrets are the fish sauce (dried, salted fish is the real trick) & leaving this to just simmer for way longer than the recipe requests. The oil should really separate and sit on the sauce. Mafe is magic! Please, please visit Senegal or make it yourself.
This worked really well in the slow cooker. The chicken practically fell off the bone. I followed the recipe up to the point of adding the peanut butter in Step 3 and used boiling water. The liquid went into the slow cooker followed by the marinated chicken and then everything else. After 8 hours on low, it was perfect and the guys loved it. I used the skins to make Chicken-Skin Canapés which went over pretty well too. A great snack with beer.
In the note above it mentions that fish sauce is relevant because of Vietnamese influence in Senegal. The real reason it makes sense is that this dish often has dried salt fish as an ingredient when it is cooked in cities and villages in Senegal. This dried fish is a very traditional flavoring that is used in many dishes. This ingredient is not readily available in the US and the fish sauce is a reasonable alternative.
Colonialism didn't bring Vietnamese fish sauce to the kitchens of Senegal. The depth of flavor in authentic mafe comes from small amounts of potent smoked dried fish. It is the je ne sais quois of mafe, just as fish sauce provides the je ne sais quoi of many southeast Asian dishes. In this recipe fish sauce is a convenient substitution for dried fish, and that's why is should be added, not for the reason stated in the intro.
I made a vegetarian version of this (substituting Bragg's Liquid Aminos for the fish sauce). I marinated and sauteed tofu (instead of the chicken) and threw it in right at the end, after all the veggies were done. Fabulous!
Wonderful dish! I used bone-in chicken thighs. Before serving, I removed the tender chicken meat from the bones in large chunks and added it back into the stew, discarding the bones. Used Smucker's Natural creamy PB (unsweetened), and it worked great.
I followed the advice of LMK and used a third of a cup of peanut butter which was just right and added the cabbage last after I turned off the stove. It only cooked lightly then,so retained a bit of fresh crunch. I also included lemon juice to freshen it up. Lime would work too, but the lemon tree is producing right now. Fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) would be great if I had some.
I made this according to the recipe for a work potluck, and it was rated from “I could eat this entire bowl by myself.” to “this is fire” (as in a good thing, not a spicy thing, according to the kool kids). Definitely a winner.
Rich, complex, delicious and inexpensive. Made for potluck, was well received. Minor modifications based on others notes: Cut oil to 1 T, used boneless skinless thighs cut into bite-sized pieces, added cabbage with potatoes. Used freshly ground peanuts from local grocery deli, froze scotch bonnet and used micro plane grater to grate the frozen pepper into the stew just before serving for a diffuse, subtle heat. Served with a scotch bonnet hot sauce on the side.
The fish sauce makes sense but not for the reason stated in the introduction. The depth of flavor in mafe comes from small amounts of potent smoked dried fish. It is the je ne sais quois of mafe, just as fish sauce provides the je ne sais quoi of many south east Asian dishes. In this recipe fish sauce is a convenient substitution for dried fish, and that's why is should be added. Colonialism didn't bring Vietnamese fish sauce to the kitchens of Senegal.
Asian shrimp paste would also work.
Won't the cabbage disintegrate if cooked this long? Seems as though it should be added later...
Simply awful. Bland. All boiled to extract taste. Five stars is a joke.
Rave reviews from everyone at the first bite. A dollop of chile crisp was added to my second bowl which gave yet another layer of deliciousness. This will become a regular dish in my repertoire.
Reading the comments and working with what I had - I used 1/3 cup peanut butter, 3 tbsp tomato paste, 5 cups water. It was excellent! I didn’t have the patience for it to really thicken, but the veg were very soft and the liquid was wonderful over rice.
This was very good! We made everything as is. I couldn’t stop eating it! We did have to cook the sauce down just a little and let the veggies cook about 10 minutes longer, and we used a Jif style peanut butter. So yummy.
My daughter spent 6 mos living in Dakar during her Jr year abroad from college, and this recipe is the closest to authentic we've found. Yes, it's highly caloric, but in our experience it serves a lot more people than the recipe indicates. I usually double the veggies and increase the protein by 50% to better use the quantity of sauce, sub a small pinch of red pepper flake for the scotch bonnet, and serve over brown rice. Such a great, warming meal when it's stormy out.
Made as directed other than soy sauce rather than fish due to someone in the family being very particular about that and boneless thighs which worked perfectly.. It was delicious, but peanut butter heavy IMO. When I looked at the recipe for the lamb version someone commented on, it included fresh chopped tomatoes as well. I think I'll try adding that next time (or a can of chopped or Rotel) and/or reducing the peanut butter. I liked the cabbage well cooked.
I forgot to marinade the chicken. I followed the directions and when it was time to add the chicken, added chicken breast chunks with the marinade ingredients to the pot. To cut down on the fat, I also subbed in peanut butter powder. I kept all other ingredients the same and it still came out good!
If I’m using scotch bonnets, when do I add them?
Made pretty much according to the recipe, but used natural, crunchy peanut butter and added some chopped cilantro to serve. I'd probably use less salt next time. Saw the comments about fish sauce (authentic or not) after I had thrown in some Red Boat salt (with anchovy) as part of the salt quota; probably also not authentic, but gives a bit of good fish umami with the salt. Added a slivered green Thai chile with the vegetables. It was all good and will definitely be making again.
The flavors were good, but this cooking method didn’t work for me. I couldn’t get the simmering thing going well enough with all the vegetables. It wouldn’t get hot enough. Then I covered the pot to try to get more heat going. Eventually everything cooked, but I don’t know if I’d do it again this way. I used three anchovies bc I had them and I didn’t have fish sauce. This took me about an hour active cooking time and more than two hours total.
Made this as written with the exception of using boneless skinless breasts and thighs. I truly do not understand what the fuss is about. Lots of work for an only OK dish, and I love PB. Habanero hot sauce made it better, but I won’t be making this again.
I took the advice of my fellow Timers: cut the peanut butter in half and omitted cabbage. Used bone-in thighs, cut the oil down to 2tbsp at the beginning. Took the chicken out at the end, removed it from the bone, put it back in the stew. Really, really good on the first chilly day of the fall. Thank you for the recipe!
Just wondering if the marinade is supposed to be included? Most of my marinades are discarded but just getting back into the swing of cooking so...:)
This is excellent and makes A LOT! Used bone in thighs and Japanese sweet potatoes and followed the recipe closely. Thickened broth after taking out veggies per preference and meat fell off the bones. Fish sauce stank up the house but it mellows quickly later. Use the whole amount of peanut butter - we love the peanutty flavor including our 3-year-old. Will freeze the leftover - next time I’ll probably halve the recipe. Five stars
Soo good! Note can make vegan for T. And need more chilli. Proper PB used. Eggplant would be cool also!
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