Senegalese Thiou Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

• 2 carrots, cut into chunks
• 3 cups cabbage wedges
• 12 oz potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Scotch bonnet or red chili, left whole
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 cups rice or millet, for serving
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 1 1/2 tsp fine salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat and cook the onion with a pinch of salt for 8 minutes, until soft and deeply golden.
2. Add the garlic and thyme for 30 seconds, then the tomato paste, and fry it for 3 full minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens from bright red to brick and smells sweet rather than metallic.
3. That frying is the whole foundation of a thiou. Paste stirred in raw leaves a thin, sour broth no amount of simmering will fix.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and cook for 8 minutes until they collapse, then pour in the stock and add the whole chili.
5. Add the potatoes and carrots and simmer for 15 minutes, then the cabbage, and cook 10 minutes more, until everything is tender.
6. Leave the chili whole and lift it out at the end; it perfumes the pot without making it inedibly hot.
7. Add the chickpeas and simmer uncovered for 8 minutes, crushing a few against the side of the pot so their starch thickens the stew.
8. Meanwhile cook the rice or millet, then season the stew with salt and lime and serve it over the grains with the cilantro and lime wedges.

Use the listed quantities as a guide, adjust seasoning to taste, and cook proteins to a safe internal temperature.