One of my favorite ways to collect recipe and meal ideas is to follow cooking blogs and sign up for their newsletters (check out my resources page for a list of my favorites). I’ve never been a huge cookbook person because I find it much easier to look up recipes online and organize them digitally. Recently, I received an email from a weekly plant-based health newsletter that I subscribe to called Food For Life with a recipe for African Bean Stew. The ingredients, which included peanut butter and curry powder, intrigued me and since I love soups and stews I instantly knew I had to try it out.
A few things are tweaked from the original recipe. I used fresh chopped tomatoes instead of canned and I added a little bit of tomato paste for thickening. The picture of the soup they included with the email looked like the soup had been puréed, but there was no mention of that in recipe. I ended up leaving mine chunky, choosing to mash some of the sweet potato chunks to help thicken the liquid and create a “creamier” texture. Oh, and I also omitted the soy sauce (actually, forgot is more like it!). The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of reduced-sodium soy sauce, but it still turned out great! At least this way there was even less sodium in the finished product. 
If you like this soup or try any other variations, please leave a comment and let me know.
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 small sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
- 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 4 cups cooked brown rice
- Heat water and soy sauce in a large pot.
- Add onion and sweet potatoes or yams and cook over high heat, stirring often, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add carrot, celery, and bell pepper.
- Cover and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add tomatoes, broth or water, beans and their liquid, cilantro, peanut butter, and curry powder.
- Stir to mix, then cover and simmer until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.
- Serve over cooked rice.
- Top with chopped fresh cilantro.
