Monday 31 August 2015

Domoda (Peanut Butter Sauce)

Well hello again :)
Today is the last day of the Summer, unfortunately!!! I don't know how is the weather where you are but here in England it's been raining all day!!! Me and my little man were going crazyyy :) 
The only thing I want during this weather is some comfort food, some nice cup of tea and a nice romantic movie. ( I watched   The Notebook today!!! Loads of tears again :) ) 
Today I am sharing one of my favorite recipes of Gambian cooking - Domoda. It is very smooth and creamy dish. The unique texture is given by peanut butter. But let me start from the beginning. 



1 Kg of any meat ( I used lamb)
2 large white onions
4 cloves of garlic
half of the tube of tomato puree
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 carrots
3 Kanni Chillies
1/2 white cabbage
1 Cassava
Oil
Your favorite seasoning
Basmati Rice

The first thing I do is prepare the meat: I cut it in cubes ( or any sizes you like), I wash it and season it ( lamb seasoning, black pepper, salt, all purpose seasoning). After marinating the meat I move towards vegetables. 
Firstly, I chop onions. The last time I made Domoda, I put all the onions, garlic, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and 1 Kanni chilli to the food processor. Believe me, it was the best idea so far, as the blended mixture is working really well with the peanut butter. But even if you do not have a food processor, you can chop the onions and garlic the way you like it, add the tomato puree on top, add the seasoning and its ready to go. So. After blending the vegetables, I heat the oil in the cooking pot. After the oil is hot enough I add the mixture and stir it on the slow heat. After around 10-15 min I add the meat ( yes, the raw meat :)). After adding the meat, I do not stir or even touch what is in the pot. I put the lid on and keep the pot on the slow heat for another 10 min. At the mean time I put the kettle with some water in it. Prepare the carrots, cassava and cabbage. I know some Gambians don't put the vegetables in but my family likes this sauce with some vegetables in, furthermore, when you have children, it is better to make them getting used to eat more vegetables. After 10 min in the pot, I open the lid and stir the onion mixture with the meat. Always taste if there is any seasoning missing. I usually add 2-3 Maggi cubes. Add the vegetables on top and poor the boiling water over the meat and vegetables, so they would be all covered in water. Leave on the slow heat for around 30-40 min, and don't forget to stir, as we don't want the sauce to get stuck or burn. Now, when everything is  cooking in the pot it is time to make some rice!!! Rice cooker here it comes :) 
My husband likes the meat really well done and the vegetables just right ( not too soft not too crunchy). After checking how is the meat and vegetables are, i.e. when it is cooked towards your satisfaction and your  liking we add peanut butter. We use smooth peanut butter, so it doesn't have the crunchy bits in there. I usually add from 4 to 5 table spoons of peanut butter to the sauce. I tend to stir everything after every single table spoon of peanut butter, so then I know how thick it will get. When the peanut butter is added to the sauce we leave the sauce on the slow heat for around 10-15 min, or until the oil will come out on top of the sauce. I usually add 2 Kanni chillies at the end of the cooking with the peanut butter. And now its ready!!!
Just serve in the bed of rice. 
Enjoy it :) 

No comments:

Post a Comment