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At a glance: Senegalese Mafé — Peanut Stew in Red Palm Oil: serves 4, cooked in butter and palm oil, with no seed oils.
Mafé is one of Senegal's great dishes — a slow-cooked stew of meat and root vegetables in a thick peanut paste sauce, built here on a base of red palm oil, tomatoes, and onion. Where Nigerian groundnut soup is fiery and intense, mafé is milder and sweeter, with root vegetables and cabbage creating a balance that makes it as much a vegetable stew as a meat dish. It is traditionally served with white rice.
The Peanut Paste
Mafé uses a generous amount of peanut paste — smooth, unsalted, freshly ground if possible. The paste enriches the broth, thickens it as it cooks, and provides the characteristic creamy, slightly sweet depth that defines the dish. Commercial smooth peanut butter without added sugar is the accessible substitute. Use 150g for a pot of four — less produces a thin, unsatisfying sauce.
Serves 4 · Prep 20 min · Cook 1.5 hours
Ingredients
- 600g bone-in lamb shoulder or beef chuck, cut into chunks
- 150g smooth unsalted peanut paste or peanut butter
- 3 tbsp red palm oil (or ghee)
- 2 onions, 1 diced, 1 blended with 2 tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 200g white cabbage, wedged
- 500ml meat stock or water
- Salt, black pepper
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Red Palm Oil (100% Pure)
Method
- Heat the red palm oil in a heavy pot. Brown meat on all sides. Remove.
Our pick for step 1Red Palm Oil (100% Pure)Unrefined red palm oil gives mafé its deep orange colour and a traditional West African flavour.
Check price on AmazonAdd to cartAffiliate link. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. - Cook diced onion in same oil 5 minutes. Add tomato paste. Cook 3 minutes.
- Add blended tomato and onion. Simmer 8 minutes.
- Stir in peanut paste. Add stock gradually to prevent lumps.
- Return meat. Bring to simmer. Cook 45 minutes.
- Add sweet potato, carrots, and cabbage.
- Cook 30 more minutes until vegetables are tender and sauce thick.
- Season and serve with white rice.
What protein is traditional in mafé?
Lamb and beef are most common. Chicken works — reduce cooking time to 45 minutes total. Fish mafé exists but is less common.
How thick should mafé be?
Thicker than a soup, thinner than groundnut soup. It should coat the back of a spoon but pour freely.
Can I make it vegan?
Yes — use only root vegetables, add chickpeas for protein, and use vegetable stock.
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Storage and Reheating
Mafé improves overnight. Store refrigerated for up to 5 days — the peanut sauce thickens considerably when cold. Reheat over low-medium heat with a splash of water or stock, stirring occasionally, until the sauce returns to its original flowing consistency. Freezes well for up to 3 months.
Recipe Variations
- Chicken mafé — substitute lamb or beef with bone-in chicken pieces — reduce cooking time to 45 minutes and add the peanut paste after 20 minutes to prevent it scorching
- Vegetable mafé — replace meat entirely with sweet potato, yam, and cassava — add all vegetables at the 20-minute mark and simmer for 25 minutes
- Adjust the fat — if you cannot find red palm oil, ghee, lard or grass-fed butter all work. Each gives a slightly different flavour; red palm oil gives the deepest colour and the most traditional West African taste.
What to Serve With Mafé
Mafé is served over plain white rice in Senegal and Mali — the stew's thick, rich sauce needs the neutral backdrop of unseasoned rice to balance. A small dish of thiébou yapp (rice cooked in the leftover sauce) is the traditional accompaniment in Senegalese households. Fried sweet plantains (aloco) alongside is the West African table addition.
What is mafé?
Mafé (also spelled maafé) is the national peanut stew of Senegal and Mali. Slow-cooked beef or lamb in a sauce of ground peanuts, tomato, and aromatics. One of West Africa's defining dishes — analogous in cultural importance to Indian dal or Mexican mole.
Is peanut oil seed oil free?
No. This site treats peanut (groundnut) oil as a seed oil, so this version uses red palm oil (palm fruit oil, not palm kernel oil), a traditional fat in West African cooking, with ghee as the alternative. The peanut paste in the sauce stays.
What cut of meat works best in mafé?
Bone-in lamb shoulder or beef short ribs. The collagen in the bone and connective tissue dissolves during the long simmer and thickens the peanut sauce naturally. Boneless cuts produce a thinner sauce.
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