Hippie Gruel (Vegan African Peanut Stew)

I used to make this in college. My friends called it hippie gruel. It’s super easy and super tasty.

Get a giant pot and fill it with water. Throw in a few large tablespoons of chunky peanut butter.  Add salt. Add a few cloves of garlic, a large white onion, a few tomatoes, celery and about 3 or 4 potatoes (cut into medium sized cubes). Then add in all the “c” spices — cardamom, cumin, cayanne pepper, cloves, cinnamon (just a tiny bit), curry, etc.  Let it cook until the potatoes get pretty soft.  Add more peanut butter if you want a thicker sauce.  Play with the spices and garlic to taste. Cubes of hard tofu work well in it too, but that’s if you want more stuff in the stew. Lemon can be nice too.

Serve it in a bowl with some kind of tasty bread. Or use a bread bowl. It goes well with sourdough, though I personally hate sourdough.  It serves a lot, based on how much of each ingredient you use.

(Sorry I don’t have a real recipe, but I don’t cook that way, I think a variation on this may exist in the Moosewood Cookbook — like I said, my friends called it hippie gruel. They also ate it in droves.)

Here’s how Moosewood makes it, I don’t think you need the honey or the buttermilk. Also, all the vegetables make it way better. But this might help with proportions.

1 cup good plain peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
4 cups boiling water
1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 cups minced onion
10 large cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt (Use less, if peanut butter is salted)
2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (maybe more—to taste)
2 cups buttermilk (at room temperature)

  1. Place the peanut butter and honey in a medium-sized bowl. Add about half the boiling water, and mash with a spoon until it becomes smooth. Whisk in the remaining hot water and set aside.
  2. Heat the oil in a soup pot or a Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, salt, and ginger. Saute over low heat for about 10 minutes, then add the spices. Continue to cook and stir for about 5 minutes longer.
  3. Stir in the peanut butter mixture and cover. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat way down and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Just before serving, heat the soup again (if necessary) and whisk in the room temperature buttermilk. Serve right away, with a small spoonful of Banana Topping in each bowl.

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