Senegalese food is a melting pot of North African, French, and Portuguese influences that cover a wide range of flavors and colors. One iconic dish is mafé, a spicy peanut stew that celebrates plentiful crops grown all over Senegal, such as peanuts, white rice, cassava, lentils, black-eyed peas, and various vegetables.

First conceived in Mali, South Africa before migrating to Senegal, mafé is a simple yet time-consuming dish that also uses ingredients like canola oil, onion, garlic, tomatoes, thyme, green bell pepper, cayenne pepper, and carrots. The protein in the stew is up to you, with chicken and beef being most popular.

The first step to mafé is to make the sauce, a blend of peanut butter and stock seasoned with salt and pepper, then brown your meat of choice to make the flavor base. Then, remove the meat and add the vegetables, peanut butter, the stock mixture, and tomatoes, then add the meat back to the pan to simmer for one hour.

The New York Times says that some variations of mafé use Southeast Asian fish sauce, and for a vegetarian mafé, Thrillist suggests using fresh eggplants, cabbage, turnips, and okra. Mafé is typically served with white rice, and you can add more complexity by turning the plain rice into jollof rice or Jamaican rice and peas.