This is my Ivorian friend Ruth’s recipe, and I love it! It reminds me the Filipino dish kare-kare made with peanut butter too. It’s comfort food. You’re gonna love this thick, generous, rich and finger-licking delicious peanut butter sauce!

You may have heard it as mafé sauce in other African Sub-Saharan countries. And in some versions, you can add vegetables like carrots or okra. In other words, it’s a specialty with so many different possibilities! I tasted it for the first time with chicken and oxtail, but of course, you can cook it with any kind of meat (veal, beef, chicken, lamb), or even fresh and smoked fish. Here, I’m presenting you the oxtail version as it’s an unusual, pretty cheap and absolutely tender, delicious and melting-in-the-mouth piece of meat. Of course, it has to cook for a while to become tender, like other to-be-braised pieces of meat such as chuck steak, cheek, flank, etc. So you should use a pressure cooker to save time.

Obviously, peanut butter has to be pure, with no sugar. And you can find dried shrimp powder in delicatessen or make your own with dried shrimp and a food processor. It gives a smoked flavour to the dish but it’s not compulsory.

Makes 3 to 4 main dishes

• 17 oz oxtail in big chunks
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 stock cube
• 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 habanero chili
• dried shrimp powder

Peel and cut the onion and garlic.

Mix the tomato with the onion and garlic in a blender or food processor.

Pour the mixture in a big pan with 1 cup of water and the oxtail.

Let simmer with lid on for at least an hour or 30 minutes in a pressure cooker.

In a small saucepan, simmer 2 cups of water with the stock cube. Remove from the stove then add the peanut butter and mix until even.

Pour this peanut butter mixture in the big pan with the meat and tomato.

Add the ground ginger, the whole chili and 2 tbsps of dried shrimp powder.

If you don’t want it to be too hot and spicy, add the chili later. The more the habanero chili will simmer in the sauce, the hotter and more fragrant the dish will be.

If you like it hot and spicy, cut the chili and take a piece in your plate as you serve the dish.

Cooking the whole habanero chili into the sauce without breaking it, is a good tip to make the dish more fragrant but not too hot and spicy.

Salt and pepper.

Simmer until the sauce reduces and the meat becomes melting-in-your-mouth tender!

Serve with plain rice.