Make a Main Dish for Peanuts

I have a long relationship with peanut butter. It began with breakfasts of toast with peanut butter and jelly. Once I was in grade school, the centerpiece in my Roy Rogers lunch box was a PB&J sandwich. As I grew older, my peanut butter consumption became more sophisticated. My sandwich of choice throughout my teens was Jif or Skippy peanut butter, lettuce, and Miracle Whip mayonnaise. That doesn’t appeal to you? Then how about the favorite sandwich of Kinsey Millhone, the gumshoe in Sue Grafton’s crime stories? In every one of 22 novels, Millhone consumes her peanut butter and pickle sandwich. The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook recipe specifies Jif Extra-Crunchy Peanut Butter, Health-Nut bread, and Vlasic Bread and Butter Chips. No substitutes.

Beyond PB&J

Peanuts aren’t actually nuts. They’re legumes and related to peas and beans. The plants were first domesticated in South America some 3,500 years ago. Spanish explorers took peanuts back to Europe in the 16^th century. Then traders transported them to Asia and Africa. It was enslaved Africans who introduced the peanut to North America in the 1700s, calling them “nguba” from the African region where they were most populous. Peanuts became popular in the northern states after the Civil War when Union soldiers took them home. But they didn’t become a large commercial crop until after the turn of the 20^th century, when labor-saving equipment for planting, harvesting, and processing were invented. They’re now the 12^th most valuable U.S. crop.

Peanut butter elevates almost anything. These days, how about going beyond peanut butter sandwiches? Who needs the extra calories? Cooks around the world have fashioned ways to use peanuts in main dishes for hundreds of years. The spicy satay sauces and noodle dishes like Pad Thai from Southeast Asia. The chili and peanut curries of India. Kare-kare stew in the Philippines. And, of course, Central and South America dishes such as Mexican chicken in peanut sauce.

Going nutty for flavor and crunch

The great thing about peanuts and peanut butter is the fat content, flavor, and texture that enhance these dishes. Peanuts – whole or chopped – provide both flavor and crunch, while peanut butter is better at giving a dish deeper texture. As a meat substitute, it provides about a quarter of the protein of beef and about twice the fat. While beef is better at providing vitamins, peanuts are full of essential minerals. And they are a lot less expensive (and sustainable).

Just like those sandwiches, peanuts are the foundation of many dishes. Take the mafe stew of West Africa. In places like Senegal, where the dish is older than the United States, this stew won’t make it without peanut butter. Though simple in composition, its aromatic foundation of onions, garlic, tomato, and spices combines with lamb, beef, or chicken as the main protein. The stew is then filled in with vegetables, mainly root vegetables, but also maybe cabbage or eggplant. Like many stews, you’ve got your meat and vegetables, so you can pick pretty much what suits you or what’s available. But it’s the peanut butter, mixed with a little tomato sauce, that elevates this stew into a flavor treat.

There’s a reason cooks have valued peanuts for thousands of years, don’t you think? How about chili with peanut butter? Stir-fried beef with peanut sauce and broccoli? Or a salad of beets with honey, peanuts, and feta? What sounds good to you?

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