Don Diego's Sopa de maní

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 4 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 large onion(s), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 carrot(s), sliced
• 1 bell pepper(s), red, finely diced
• 250 g potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 small can of tomatoes, peeled
• 200 g peanuts, unroasted, unsalted or roasted and salted
• Spice paste (Ají Amarillo paste) or 2 chopped peppers of your choice
• 1 liter beef broth
• salt and pepper
• 1 bag(s) of potato sticks (Batata Palha – fried potato sticks)
• 6 m.-sized potatoes, boiled and halved
• 2 carrots, cooked
• 2 chicken breast fillets

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour

creamy peanut and potato soup from Bolivia

Two things to note: First, we owe the peanut itself to the Incas. Second, the Incas didn’t have cable television. Consequently, the Incas didn’t succumb to the Ültje-Kültje (traditional slang for “peanut butter”). Instead, they invented a host of peanut dishes. For example, they made peanut butter—long before the Americans—but didn’t know where to spread it, as they lacked the sticky white bread. Then again, they lacked the right word for a sweet made from cocoa, honey, and peanuts. “Snickers” probably isn’t part of the Quechua vocabulary. But why dwell on yesterday’s missed opportunities? Sopa de maní, peanut soup, remains popular in the Andean countries of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. The countless variations of this traditional Andean dish have the following ingredients in common: peanuts, potatoes, broth, and chili peppers. Otherwise, the dish can be very different, sometimes more like a soup, sometimes more like a stew. I’m going to present a creamy soup version. Heat oil in a large pot and sauté the diced onions until soft and translucent. Then fry the garlic, carrot, bell pepper, and potatoes for a good five minutes before adding the tomatoes. Meanwhile, toast the peanuts in a pan, “dry” (i.e., without adding any fat). Fresh peanuts are practically white and only take on their usual canned or bagged color when toasted. When toasting, don’t set the temperature too high, and stir and turn the peanuts constantly to prevent them from burning. Then let both the vegetable mixture and the peanuts cool for ten minutes before processing them further. Pour the toasted peanuts into the food processor and grind them finely. It doesn’t need to be flour; fine semolina is perfectly sufficient. When you’re satisfied with the result, add the steamed vegetables and puree them together with the peanuts. Now the peanut/vegetable puree goes back into the large pot, is topped up with the broth, and then allowed to simmer for a quarter of an hour. But it’s not finished yet. Even if the chef likes the consistency of the soup, the seasoning still needs to be adjusted. Peanut soup is popular in the Andes. In addition to salt and pepper, I season the soup with ají amarillo, a pleasant type of chili pepper from the Andes, to the level that suits me. Ají amarillo is available locally as fresh pods, and in Germany, perhaps as a paste or dried and ground. But other pepper sauces are also suitable. For a vegetarian version, I serve the soup with “straw potatoes” (batata palha), fried potato sticks from a bag. Those who don’t want to miss out on meat can add a few pieces of chicken breast to the soup in the final stages. A Latin American might find both options far too soupy. He treats himself to two boiled potato halves and a carrot cluster alongside the free-swimming chicken breast, thus creating his own private archipelago on his plate. But all diners face the same task: the lake must be drained.