Ingredients: (serves 6-8)

2 x Onions

8 x Fresh Tomatoes or ( 2 x 400g Tinned)

4 x tbsp Sunflower Oil

2 x Cloves of garlic

1 x tsp Dried chillies (optional)

2 x tsp Raw cane sugar

1kg Fresh Pumpkin Leaves or ( 150g dried)

100g Raw unsalted peanuts or ( 3 x tsp peanut/almond butter)

Sea Salt and Pepper

Method and Cooking time (25 - 35 mins)

Place sunflower oil in large saucepan on medium heat. Finely chop the onions and begin to fry until translucent. Add garlic and chillies (optional) and lightly season. Next grind the nuts until you have a fine powder. Roll pumpkin leaves together, finely chop and set both aside.

Next add chopped tomatoes and a cup of water to the pan and simmer for 5 mins. Then add pumpkin leaves and cook for another 20 - 30 mins. Last 5 mins of cooking, add ground nuts or peanut/almond butter, stir and simmer for 1-2 mins and serve.

This is my all time favourite vegetable dish. It's a recipe which is cooked across a number of Southern African countries. The young, tender pumpkin leaves are sort after for this recipe (in Malawi sweet potatoes leaves are also used). The larger leaves need to be deveined and cooked a little longer. A great substitute would be black/curly kale or spinach. Though it doesn't carry that authentic light smokey flavour and bite that pumpkin leaves have.

© Malcolm Riley