Southern Illinois Money Savers

Tonight we are Cooking with Emeri!

On the menu is African Pineapple Peanut Stew.
I will admit I would have never ever picked this recipe. I am really not one for mixing fruit in my dinner meal. Also before tonight I had never tasted Kale before so I know my girls hadn’t either.

However I am pretty much giving the girls creative freedom to choose whatever they want to make. The only exception would be using any ingredients that someone in the house has a serious aversion to. For instance: No Mushrooms!!

Here are most of our ingredients. I forgot to set the rice up there. We cooked up some white rice to go with the Stew.

She got the recipe from recipezaar and followed it except for the garnish.

* 1 cup onion, chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 4-5 cups kale or swiss chard (1 bunch)
* 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
* 1/2 cup natural-style peanut butter
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
* 1 teaspoon sea salt, celtic (more or less to taste)
* 1/2 cup peanuts, skinless, crushed (more or less for garnish)
* 3 scallions, chopped (more or less for garnish)

First she chopped up the onion. Then added it to the pot with the olive oil and she used minced garlic.

You can actually see the steam in the picture. She sauteed the onions and minced garlic until it was soft.

Next she added in the can of crushed pineapple with liquid and stirred it in. While this came to a simmer she washed and chopped the Kale.

Then she added the Kale to the pot, stirred it a bit and put the vented lid on top. She set the time for 5 minutes to let the Kale begin to get tender.

After the 5 minutes was up she added in the peanut butter, soy sauce and cilantro and stirred it in. Covered it once again with the vented lid and set the timer for 5 more minutes. When the 5 minutes was up she stirred it up one last time. Then plated it on top of a bed of white rice.

So what was the verdict?
I have to actually say it was a lot better than I expected. I don’t think it will move to my top 10 recipes but I am glad Emeri gave it a try.
My husband LOVED it!! He told Emeri it was so good he wanted her to make it especially for him on his birthday!!
Emeri also really enjoyed it and of course she was quite proud that it came out so well.
Jonah lucked out and happened to be gone when we had it. She wasn’t looking forward to it.

Emeri did great, I didn’t have to really do anything other than explain a few things to her.

For more great recipes check out The Grocery Cart Challenge.