Zambian Beef, Butternut and Groundnut Stew

Ingredients

• 600 g stewing beef (chuck), cut into 3 cm cubes
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 green chilli, sliced (optional)
• 750 ml water
• 500 g butternut, peeled and cut into 3 cm cubes
• 100 g raw groundnuts (peanuts)
• 2 handfuls pumpkin leaves or spinach, shredded

Method

1. Dry-roast the groundnuts in a pan over a medium heat, shaking often, until golden (8–10 minutes). Rub off the skins and pound or blend to a fine powder.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pot and brown the beef in batches. Lift out.
3. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and chilli and cook for about 8 minutes, until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce.
4. Return the beef, pour in the water, cover and simmer gently for 1 hour 15 minutes, until the beef is nearly tender.
5. Add the butternut and simmer for 15 minutes. Mix the ground groundnuts with a ladle of the hot liquid to a smooth paste and stir it into the pot.
6. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring often so the groundnut sauce does not catch. Add the pumpkin leaves for the last 5 minutes.
7. Taste for salt and serve hot with nshima made from maize meal labelled gluten-free.

Gluten-free check: We make it with water, not a stock cube; if you add a cube or stock powder it must be certified gluten-free – most contain wheat. Pound your own groundnuts: ready-ground peanut powder and some peanut butters are processed on shared lines. Mealie meal (maize meal) for the nshima is naturally gluten-free but can be milled with wheat – buy one labelled gluten-free if you have coeliac disease.