Quick Beef Stew with Rice & Peanut Butter
Stir the peanut butter into simmering tomatoes and watch it disappear. No oily slick, no gritty layer, just a thick curry-spiced sauce that wraps around every strip of beef and every cube of carrot. Brown rice on the bottom, the stew on top, 762 calories with 35g of protein and 14g of fiber in twenty minutes flat.
Stir the peanut butter into simmering tomatoes and watch it disappear. No oily slick, no gritty layer, just a thick curry-spiced sauce that wraps around every strip of beef and every cube of carrot. Brown rice on the bottom, the stew on top, 762 calories with 35g of protein and 14g of fiber in twenty minutes flat.
Ingredients
- brown rice 3 ounces
- onion 0.5
- carrot 1
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- curry powder 1 teaspoon
- beef strips 3 ounces
- diced tomatoes 3.5 ounces
- peanut butter 1 tablespoon
- vegetable bouillon 1 cube
- water 2.5 fluid ounces
- garden peas (frozen) 3 ounces
Method
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Cook the rice following the package’s instructions.
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Chop the onion and cut the carrot into cubes.
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Heat the oil in a wok. Add the onion and carrot and cook for 3 minutes. Then add the curry powder and beef strips and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, peanut butter, bouillon cube and water. Stir well and let it simmer on low heat for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. In the last 3 minutes, add the peas and warm them up. Then turn off the heat.
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Serve the rice on a plate and top with the beef stew. Season with pepper to taste.
Stir the peanut butter into the simmering liquid, not into the dry pan. The hot tomato-bouillon base emulsifies the peanut oil into the sauce instead of letting it separate. Drop the spoonful directly into the bubbling stew in Step 3 and stir for thirty seconds before reducing the heat.
Simmering diced tomatoes in olive oil for five minutes dramatically increases lycopene bioavailability. One trial found that participants who ate tomatoes cooked with oil showed 82% higher plasma trans-lycopene than those who ate tomatoes cooked without oil. The fat provides a vehicle for the lycopene to dissolve into absorbable micelles.
Fielding et al., 2005 · DOIWhy This Works
Behind this recipe
Can I use crunchy peanut butter in this stew?
You can, but it changes the sauce texture. Crunchy peanut butter leaves visible peanut pieces that do not fully dissolve during the five-minute simmer. For a smooth, uniform sauce that coats the beef and vegetables evenly, smooth peanut butter works better. If you like the texture contrast, crunchy works fine, just stir more frequently to keep the pieces from sticking to the bottom of the wok.
Where does the idea of peanut butter in a stew come from?
Groundnut stews are a staple across West Africa, particularly in Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria. The combination of ground peanuts, tomatoes, and meat simmered together is one of the oldest high-protein one-pot meals in the region. This recipe borrows that principle and adds curry powder for a different spice accent.
Can I swap the beef strips for chicken?
Chicken thigh strips work best because they hold up to the five-minute simmer without drying out. Chicken breast strips also work but cook faster. Add them a minute later than the recipe says and check for doneness at the four-minute mark. The macros will shift slightly: chicken breast is leaner than beef strips, so expect lower fat and lower total calories.
