🇸🇷 Suriname · with Surinamese diaspora in the Netherlands
Pindasoep (Surinamese peanut soup)Surinamese peanut soup
Surinamese soup of chicken (or beef) in a peanut-butter-thickened broth with tomato, onion, Madame Jeanette pepper and allspice, traditionally served with tomtom (mashed plantain balls), in the Netherlands also with rice.
Origin and history
Pindasoep belongs to the Afro-Surinamese kitchen. Cookbook writers on Surinamese food trace it to the groundnut soups of West Africa, carried to Suriname by enslaved Africans on the Dutch plantations, who made a peanut soup that recalled home. It is eaten with tomtom, mashed plantain balls also served with okra soup. With Surinamese migration it became a familiar dish in the Netherlands.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 45 min
- Hands-on
- 45 min
Ingredients
- 1 (about 1.2 kg)1 (about 2.6 lb) whole chicken, or the same weight of chicken legs and wings
- 2.5 L2 1/2 qt cold water
- 3 onions, peeled and quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tomato, chopped (optional)
- 10 allspice berries (piment)
- 10 black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf, optional
- 1 bunch (about 30 g)1 bunch (about 1 oz) Chinese celery or celery leaves (selderij), half for the broth, half finely chopped for serving
- 1 Madame Jeanette pepper, or a Scotch bonnet or habanero, left whole
- 2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 450 g1 lb (about 1 2/3 cups) natural peanut butter (pindakaas), smooth, part of it may be spicy Surinamese peanut butter
- 2 green plantains (bakbana), for the tomtom
- 1 ripe yellow plantain, for the tomtom
Method
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1. Put the chicken in a large pot with the cold water and bring it slowly to the boil, skimming off the foam as it rises.
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2. Add the onions, garlic, tomato (if using), allspice, peppercorns, bay leaf, half the celery, the whole pepper and the salt.
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3. Lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, for about 1 hour, until the chicken comes away from the bone.
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4. Meanwhile make the tomtom: peel the plantains, cut them in chunks and boil them in salted water, just covered, for about 25 minutes, until a knife slides in without resistance.
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5. Drain the plantains and mash them hard in the pan with a potato masher until the starch makes a smooth, sticky mass.
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6. With wet hands, roll the plantain into balls the size of a walnut and set them aside.
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7. Lift the chicken out of the broth; when cool enough to handle, pull the meat into large pieces and discard skin and bones.
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8. Strain the broth and return it to the pot, carefully keeping the whole pepper aside so it does not burst; you should have about 2 L (2 qt).
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9. Whisk the peanut butter with two ladles of hot broth in a bowl until smooth, then stir it into the pot.
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10. Add the chicken and the pepper, and simmer gently for 10–15 minutes, stirring often so the peanut does not catch on the bottom, until the soup is creamy and coats a spoon.
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11. Taste for salt; for more heat, prick the pepper once with a knife and leave it a few minutes longer, then remove it.
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12. Put two or three tomtom balls in each deep bowl, ladle the hot soup over them and scatter with the chopped celery.
Notes
- Tomtom is pounded or mashed plantain. Many Surinamese cooks use mostly green plantain for a firm, dense ball, adding a ripe one for sweetness and softness; using only ripe plantain gives a softer, sweeter tomtom.
- Surinamese peanut butter is often sold already spiced with Madame Jeanette pepper. Using part of it makes the soup hotter; plain peanut butter gives a milder soup.
- Some cooks add a piece of salted or pickled beef (zoutvlees) to the broth with the chicken, and some purée the onion and tomato into the broth before adding the peanut butter.
- In the Netherlands pindasoep is often eaten with boiled rice instead of, or as well as, tomtom.
- Keep the pepper whole: it gives aroma and gentle heat; if it bursts the soup becomes very hot.
- The soup thickens as it stands. It keeps 2–3 days in the refrigerator; thin it with a little water or stock when reheating. Keep the tomtom separately, covered.
Adapted from Noni Kooiman, Switi Sranan: De rijke Surinaamse keuken (2022), The Dutch Table: Surinaamse pindasoep, and Albert Heijn Allerhande: Pindasoep met balletjes van bakbanaan (tomtom).
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Netherlands.
Earlier editions
- September 24, 2022