Zimbabwean Chicken

I usually go in phases as to what I like to cook.  Lately it has been African food.  I hadn't been able to find any good cookbooks on African Food, until now.  I recently purchased "Tastes of Africa" by Justice Kamanga. I really like this cookbook because it is a great mix of "fusion" and "authentic".  The first recipe I tried was "Chicken Thighs and Spinach in Peanut Sauce" this is a Zimbabwean dish called "Dovi".  I served it with "Sadza" which is a finely ground corn flour mixture mixed with water and cooked until absorbed into a very thick paste.  It sort of reminds me a really thick grits. I could only find medium ground yellow corn flour.  This worked ok but next time I definitely need a finely ground white corn flour.

Here is the recipe for Dovi

courtesy: "Tastes of Africa" by Justice Kamanga

6 chicken thighs

4 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 onions, finely chopped

4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup chicken stock

3 baby marrows (zucchini), sliced 1cm thick

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

500 g shredded fresh spinach

salt

Cut an "X" into the skin of each chicken thigh. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken until well browned. Transfer the thighs to a pot and pour off most of the oil from the frying pan, leaving about 3Tbs. 

In the same pan, saute the onions over a low heat until soft, then add the tomatoes and stir until soft. Stir the chicken and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the baby marrows and peanut butter and stir until the peanut butter has dissolved.  Add the cayenne pepper and spinach, and simmer for approximately 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Add salt to taste. Serve with Sadza. Serves 4-6.

This makes a huge amount as you can see from the picture. I would definitely cut it in half next time.  I also added salt and pepper to the chicken before I fried it.