Pindasoep

Ingredients

The soup

• 1chicken, jointed
• or 800 g chicken pieces
• 2onions, chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 300 gpeanut butter
• unsweetened
• 2 litreswater or stock
• 2stock cubes
• 1madame jeanette chilli
• whole and unbroken
• salt and black pepper

The tom tom

• 2green plantains
• peeled
• a little water
• salt

Sometimes added

• a little tomato paste
• salted beef or bacon
• chopped celery leaf

To serve

• hot in deep bowls
• with the dumplings
• and rice if you like

Directions

1. Keep it whole for a fragrant soup. Take care not to burst it while stirring. Understanding what happens if it bursts is worth explaining. Stir the pot gently around it. Lift it right out before serving. Peanut butter must be loosened first.
2. Keep it at a gentle simmer only. Stir it regularly as it cooks. That keeps the whole thing together. Put the chicken in a large pot. Add the onion and garlic to it. Add the water and stock cubes. Bring the whole pot up to a boil. Skim off any foam that rises up. Grey foam rises in the first minutes. Let it simmer for about thirty minutes. The chicken should be cooked through.
3. Add the whole chilli to the pot. Add it in whole and quite unbroken. Do not cut or pierce it at all. Put the peanut butter in a bowl. Ladle hot broth over it gradually. Whisk it into a smooth loose cream. Add the broth a little at a time. Keep whisking and keep adding it. It loosens into a smooth cream.
4. Stir the loosened peanut into the pot. Pour it in while stirring the soup. Let it simmer for about twenty minutes. Stir it regularly all the way through. Keep it at a gentle simmer only. Stir right into all the corners. It should coat a spoon lightly. Add water if it thickens too far. Peel all of the green plantains. Cut both of the ends off first. Score the skin lengthwise in strips.
5. Oil both of your hands before peeling. Cut the plantains into pieces. Boil them in well salted water. Give them about twenty minutes. Cook them all the way right through. Pound the hot plantain in a mortar. Pound it while it is still hot. Hot plantain pounds up smooth. Work fast while it is still warm.
6. Pound it until completely smooth. It takes real sustained effort. Add a little hot water to help it turn. Wet your hands with cold water. Roll the plantain into round balls. Understanding the wet hands are worth explaining. Make them about the size of a golf ball. Keep every one of them the same size. Drop the dumplings into the soup.
7. Let them warm through for five minutes. They only need heating in the soup. Lift the whole chilli right out. Take it out before you serve it. It can burst on a spoon otherwise.
8. Discard the chilli very carefully. Taste the soup and adjust the salt. Peanut soup takes a good deal of salt. Add plenty of black pepper as well. Serving it is always done hot. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. Put a dumpling or two in each. Serve rice alongside if you like. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• The madame jeanette chilli goes in whole and unbroken, which infuses the soup gently with its fruity aroma; a split one releases enormous heat that cannot be undone. Stir carefully around it, and lift it out before serving so it cannot burst on someone’s spoon.
• Loosen the peanut butter with hot broth ladled in a little at a time before it goes into the pot — added straight it sits in lumps that never disperse. It seizes and stiffens at first, so keep whisking and adding until it becomes a smooth cream.
• Keep the soup at a gentle simmer once the peanut is in and stir regularly right into the corners: hard boiling splits the peanut oil out onto the surface and the soup catches on the bottom.

Substitutions

• A food processor pounds the plantain faster than a mortar with a little hot water to help it turn, giving a similar though less stretchy result and saving considerable effort.
• Use unsweetened natural peanut butter and read the label, since sweetened versions make the soup taste odd.

Variations

• Peanut soups are made across West Africa and came to Suriname with enslaved people; the atlas also carries petjil, another Surinamese peanut dish that arrived from Java through indenture. Peanut sauces reached Suriname twice by entirely different routes, and both are genuinely Surinamese now.
• Pound the plantain while it is still hot, when it goes smooth and stretchy — cold plantain goes stiff and lumpy. Wet your hands with cold water to shape the balls and re-wet them between each, since the dough sticks badly to dry hands.
• The soup is thickened with peanut butter and a brown soup does not look like peanut, so say clearly what is in it — peanut allergy is common and severe.

History

Peanut soup with tom tom plantain dumplings, an African-derived dish at the heart of the Surinamese Creole kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pindasoep?

Pindasoep is a soup & stew from Suriname: creole peanut soup with plantain dumplings called tom tom. Peanut soup with tom tom plantain dumplings, an African-derived dish at the heart of the Surinamese Creole kitchen.

How long does Pindasoep take to make?

Pindasoep takes 40 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Pindasoep?

Yes, within limits. A food processor pounds the plantain faster than a mortar with a little hot water to help it turn, giving a similar though less stretchy result and saving considerable effort. Use unsweetened natural peanut butter and read the label, since sweetened versions make the soup taste odd.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pindasoep?

Keep it whole for a fragrant soup. Take care not to burst it while stirring. Understanding what happens if it bursts is worth explaining. Stir the pot gently around it. Lift it right out before serving. Peanut butter must be loosened first.