Mafé Guinean
“Guinean peanut stew — meat (chicken, beef, or lamb) and vegetables (sweet potato, carrot, cassava, cabbage) simmered in a rich, creamy peanut-butter-and-tomato sauce. Served over rice or fonio. The pan-Sahelian groundnut tradition.”
Where it comes from
Mafé (also called tigadeguena or maafé) is the universal Sahelian-West African peanut stew, with versions across Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.
On the plate
Spoon up Guinean mafé — golden-brown creamy stew, chunks of meat, sweet potato, carrot. Bite: peanut richness, tomato brightness, meat tenderness, vegetable sweetness. With fonio underneath (the Guinean highland grain), this is the Fouta Djallon family meal.
How it works
Mixing peanut butter with warm water prevents lumps. Long simmer mellows peanut and integrates flavors. Adding vegetables later preserves their texture.
Variations
Mafé with chicken (faster). With fish. Vegetarian mafé. Each West African country has variations.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
11 steps · Show ↓30 min active · 60 min waiting
How it's made
11 steps · Show ↓- 14 min
Cube 800 g beef (or lamb) into 4-cm pieces.
- 29 min
Brown in 3 tbsp oil 8 min.
- 37 min
Add 2 chopped onions + 6 minced garlic + 1 tbsp ginger; cook 6 min.
- 46 min
Add 3 chopped tomatoes + 3 tbsp tomato paste + 1-2 chopped scotch bonnets; cook 5 min.
- 53 min
Mix 250 g peanut butter with 200 ml warm water; add.
- 62 min
Add 1 L stock + 2 bouillon cubes + 1 tsp salt + 1 tsp thyme + 1 bay leaf.
- 732 min
Simmer 30 min.
- 85 min
Add 400 g cubed sweet potato + 200 g chopped carrot + 200 g chopped cabbage.
- 928 min
Simmer 25-30 min until vegetables tender and meat fall-apart.
- 102 min
Stir in 2 tbsp chopped cilantro + 1 tbsp lime juice.
- 113 min
Serve over rice or fonio.
