Uncle Bubba’s Peanut Butter Soup ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ INGREDIENTS ─────────── 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium-size yellow onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 or 2 hot or minced chillis, to your taste, seeded and chopped (I add more when it’s just me) 1 ½ teaspoons peeled and grated fresh ginger ½ tablespoon light brown sugar ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cumin 1 ½ pounds winter squash, such as butternut or Buttercup, seeded, peeled, and cut into bite-size cubes (about 3 ½ cups) 1 ½ cups water ¼ cup creamy natural peanut butter Salt and freshly-ground black pepper 1 ½ cups cooled black-eyed peas or one 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed ½ cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts METHOD ────── 1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion. Cover and cook, stirring a few times until softened — about five minutes. Stir in the garlic, chillis, ginger, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add the squash and stir to coat with the spices. Add 1 ¼ cup of the water and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. 2. Put the peanut butter into a small bowl and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup water, stirring until smooth. 3. Stir the peanut butter mixture into the stew. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender — about 30 minutes. Allow 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time and add the black-eyed peas and peanuts. Simmer until heated through. Before serving, taste to adjust the seasonings. Doubles and triples beautifully. Serves 6 as a first course and 3 or 4 as a meal. Suggested serving from source context, in an African setting ───────────────── “There is cabbage salad, maize pudding, groundnut stew on top of steamed millet, sautéed okra, and banana chutney to help cool the spicy stew.”