Mama Seedorf's peanut soup (sort of)

This soup is staple food for the Dutch national football team: no game is being played without this soup being served beforehand, apparently. The recipe is developed by the national team's cook, Johan Klein Gebbink, in collaboration with the mother of Clarence Seedorf (=football player).

The recipe calls for chicken breast, but how you can make a tasty chicken stock with chicken breast is beyond me. I used the carcass of a chicken, chock-full of bones and fat.

Make a clear stock from the chicken carcass, water (3 liters), onion, leek, bay leaf and mace:

Simmer for 3-4 hours.





Prepare the lemon grass and chili pepper by crushing the lemon grass and deseeding the peppers.

Heat oil in a pot, fry onion (cut finely) and add the banana's and plantain (bakbanaan), also: cut very finely.



Pour in the chicken stock and a jar of peanut butter. Add lemon grass and chili peppers. Simmer for up to 2,5 hours. Stir frequently: the peanut butter will stick to the pot.



In the last 15 minutes you can add sweet potato (optional). Season with black pepper and salt. Taste and season with brown sugar if you want the soup a bit more sweet (recommended).

In the original recipe the soup is seasoned with an enormous amount of sweet chili sauce (the kind used for Vietnamese spring rolls) and ginger sirup. To me this seems like adding Heinz tomato ketchup to a fine bolognese sauce. I skipped both.

Before serving remove the lemon grass and add shredded celery leaf. If there is enough meat on the chicken carcass add it to the soup. If you want more meat, boil chicken breast in the chicken stock and add it to the soup, shredded.


Ingredients

Surinamese peanut butter (Faja Lobi: Pindakaas Trafasie, spicy!):


Banana or ripe plantain:


Plantain (bakbanaan):


Chicken carcass (this amount for 1 euro!):


Lemon grass:


Chili pepper:


Leek:


Onion:


Leaf celery:


Sweet potato: