to Africa and back

Awhile ago (as in, I don’t even remember how long ago), my friend Regina (at least I think that’s who it was) recommended a recipe for a sweet potato stew to me.  I don’t even remember why she thought to tell me about it.  I’m just all sorts of forgetful these days, aren’t I?!

Anyway, the recipe for African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans has been in my to-make pile for awhile, and I thought it would be perfect for Meatless Monday this week.  (Except that we ate it tonight, which is indeed Tuesday, but whatever.  It’s the thought that counts.)

I’ll admit, I didn’t have super high hopes that Andrew would like this dish.  It has beans in it, after all.

So you can imagine my surprise when he announced that, in fact, he did like it.  According to him, the red beans “didn’t ruin in by making it too dry.”

In fact, “You can’t even taste them,” he said.  Whatever works, right?

To go with it, I made Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day’s ‘Msemmen,’ which is an Algerian flatbread.  I thought it would go nicely.  It was super easy and absolutely amazing.  Basically, you make their basic dough recipe, roll it out, spread a spice mixture on it as if it were pizza, then you roll the dough into a log and swirl it into a cinnamon roll shape before letting it rest for 20 minutes.  After that, you simply roll it out again, which causes the spice mixture to create layers in the dough.  Then, pan-fry in a skillet.

The stew is slightly sweet with just a bit of a kick.  Serve with lime wedges and chopped peanuts!