Groundnut sauce with Beef balls

Groundnut sauce is a common dish in West and North Africa. We all make it with different twists but the result is always amazing. This is why my offering today is Groundnut sauce.

On a different note, my appetite this last few days, has literally gone haywire . I mean on the upward swing. What’s gwan??? I just found myself eating everything in sight. Few days diet adjustment has to be made. So this week , I decided not to store anything interesting or tempting in the fridge. One great tip for dieting is not to buy and keep anything ‘offensive’ in the house, if its not in sight it’s not in the mouth.
Some other idea is to use side plates instead of the regular dinner plates to control your portions . Few deliberate lifestyle changes do add up to reduce your caloric intakes.
I normally will have some groundnut at home at least that is healthy 🙂 , don’t you agree? Groundnut was the inspiration for this dish. It’s a meal idea for when you want to show off your culinary expertise to  hubby’s colleagues or just friends .
And so it was that I enjoyed my herby Rice and Beef balls  in groundnut sauce without feeling guilty. I just ate two rice balls ooh and  two beef balls for dinner . And I drank pleeeennty water. I just have to fit into that little red dress for my lunch date with girl friends  in the next few days:)

Recipe for Groundnut sauce

Ingredients
11/2 cups Minced Beef
1/2 teaspoon Corn flour
1/2 teaspoon Suya pepper
1 tablespoon Onion finely chopped
Fresh Basil leaves( optional)
1/2 beef seasoning cube
1 table spoon Sunflower oil or any oil of choice

Method
1, Mix all ingredients together and mold meat mix into balls
2, Oil the baking tray , place meat balls on the tray, drizzle with oil and bake on medium heat until golden brown and cooked. This will take about 25 – 30 minutes

Rice Balls
1, Boil 1/2 cup of rice , the type used for making tuwon or jasmine  rice. Add  a little salt and cook till very soft. Add 1/2 teaspoon chopped basil and  mash
into rough paste. Mold into balls when still warm or hot if you can handle it.

Groundnut sauce
Ingredients
1/2 cup roasted Groundnut
1 seed African nutmeg( Ehuru)
1 teaspoon chopped Ginger
3 Carrots( chopped in chunks
1 small size Onion
2 green Shombo pepper( chopped)
1 red Shombo pepper ( chopped)
3/4 cup beef stock or water
Seasoning to taste
Dry pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Method
1, Grind the groundnut with the Ehuru into a smooth paste
2, Add a little water and make into a smooth runny paste
3, Fry the onion, ginger and peppers for  1 minute
4, Take the pot off the fire , stir in the groundnut paste, add the dry pepper, seasoning and beef stock and return to the fire.
5, When sauce starts to boil add the meat balls and carrots and cook till sauce thickens, this will take just 2-3 minutes. You may want to lighten it with a little water as sauce cooks.
6, Serve groundnut beef balls sauce with the rice balls. Yum!