Peanut flavored potatoes

From Dutch Girl Cooking

Okay, so sometimes I’m definitely a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but I do have my moments! Oh yes, I do! This is one of them!

This recipe has been brooding in my mind for some time now. I have this thing for incorporating peanut butter into my recipes; it really adds depth to meat, chicken and even soups and stews come to life when you add a slight hint of peanut flavor to them. Or at least I like to think it does. I’ve created lots of ‘peanut dishes’ over the years, but mainly meat or chicken based recipes.

I’ve got my Nigerian Suya with chicken and regular peanuts, which is yummy. And my Ghanaian peanut soup, Indonesian Chicken Salad as well as my Indonesian Steak Sandwich all call for peanut butter. I guess it’s safe to say I’m a bit of a peanut freak.

This time I wanted to see if I could get a little peanut flavor into a simple side-dish as well. Especially with BBQ season right around the corner, and well, a BBQ without a few good side-dishes is no BBQ to me. Then it hit me! I absolutely love satay sauce with my fries or even on top of my baked potatoes. Why not bake them together to begin with?

You’re gonna love me for this one, mark my words!

Ingredients:

1 pound potatoes
3 tbsp peanut butter
5 tbsp chicken broth
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 small chili pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oil

Directions:

Peel, wash and dice 1 pound potatoes. Cut them in about 1 1/2 inch pieces.

Parboil them in generously salted water until slightly fork tender but not cooked all the way through. You’re aiming for potatoes that still have a little bite to them, so to speak. I popped mine in the microwave and gave them about 10 minutes. (zout means salt, in case you were wondering:)

I like it real spicy, so I’ve de-seeded and chopped a small green chili pepper. Feel free to tone it down a little if this is too spicy for you—you can also use a pinch of cayenne, but you do want to have a little kick to the potatoes later on, so don’t leave it out all-together.

Grate or mince a large garlic clove as well. Two if you’re really into garlic, or when you have a serious vampire problem in your neighborhood.

I’ve combined 3 heaping tbsp peanut butter, 1 tsp oil, 2 tbsp soy sauce, a heaping 1/8 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 2 tbsp chicken broth with each other. To keep this a vegetarian dish, simply replace the chicken with vegetable broth.

Start whisking until you end up with a thick paste.

Add the minced chili pepper and garlic and stir it in.

Finally, add 3 more tbsp chicken (or vegetable) stock and 1 tsp (or more) sugar and stir to combine.

In the mean time, back at the mansion… the potatoes should be done. Well, not done done. You should be able to pierce them with a fork, yet feel they’re still slightly undercooked. Drain them and dab them dry.

Transfer them to a baking dish where they’ll fit snugly together, yet won’t be stacked on top of each other. Pour the peanut dressing in there and coat every potato with it. The rest will lurk at the bottom. Pop them in a pre-heated oven and bake at 350F (175C) for 45 minutes.

Flip them over every 15 minutes or so. This to prevent the peanut sauce on top from burning and to make sure they’re evenly coated with peanut flavor.

Roughly 45 minutes and 3 turns later, they should have a nice brown peanut layer to them. If you want to give them a little extra tan, turn on the grill for an additional 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley, serve them, sit back and check out the faces of people taking their first bite… it’s fun! I’m easily amused. These babies taste every bit as good as they look!