You can’t go wrong with peanut butter. Okay, maybe you can go wrong– peanut butter whisky and peanut butter beer sound disgusting. Other than that, though, all peanut butter foods are delicious: peanut butter granola bars, peanut butter cups, peanut butter brownies, peanut butter no-bake cookies… the deliciousness never ends.
But peanut butter in savory foods? Yes. Something changes when you cook it, it becomes more like a rich spicy gravy. The other night we had peanut butter noodles. You can use Asian rice noodles, or whole wheat noodles, or other non-gluten noodles. We added broccoli and snow peas to ours. Peanut butter sauce on noodles is good warm or cold. There are lots of recipes out there in internet land, just look for a simple one. Here’s a hint, though—add more peanut butter than the recipe asks for.
One recipe to consider:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/11835/peanut-butter-noodles/
When I have been on various healthy diet kicks, for example when I was avoiding dairy to decrease sinus problems (it did help), the peanut butter noodles became a comfort food. Like macaroni and cheese without any cheese. It has a similar mouth feel. In an Asian restaurant, I will often order Chicken Satay, and not for the chicken. The chicken is just a carrier for the peanut sauce. I should probably just order the sauce on the side and request a spoon.
But my real comfort food, although one that I rarely make, is Domoda. This is from my Peace Corps time in the Gambia, West Africa. It is the best meal, a spicy peanut butter gravy over rice. With or without meat or chicken. It was definitely one of my favorite Gambian foods. The recipe is very similar to the Asian peanut sauces, but it is made in larger quantities. This is not an appetizer; it is definitely a main dish.
I have a scribbled-on worn out and well-loved paper recipe that I kept from our Peace Corps newsletter. I use it as a guideline, and I have a couple African cookbooks to compare recipes. The classic recipe is very spicy, I often add scotch bonnet peppers. Sometimes too many… my tolerance for hot peppers is not what it once was.
In the Gambia, we would eat this in a large flat bowl, eating with our hands, several people sitting around and sharing the same bowl. Sometimes we would use a spoon. We’ve served it this way with various family and friends over the years. Once when my aunts were visiting, we added the dimension of butchering an old chicken, and making chicken Domoda. It was so tough we couldn’t chew it. But the sauce was good. I don’t think even my immediate family would go for the communal bowl in this era of covid. Now we serve out individual dishes. With spoons.
I found a good-looking recipe online. I haven’t tried this one, but it looks like the real thing with all the right ingredients. Except they don’t mention a home-butchered chicken. https://www.daringgourmet.com/domoda-gambian-peanut-stew/
If you decide to try this recipe, use old-fashioned peanut butter, the kind without extra oils added, the kind where the natural oil separates off and you have to stir it in. Because that is how you know it’s done: the oils come to the top of the pan. The oil will be a pretty red color from the tomato paste. Also, add extra peanut butter.
I’m definitely craving Domoda now, but my chickens are looking at me nervously.
Michelle Eames 
My husband and I love the Asian peanut noodle dish, too! I often add fresh cilantro, green onion, and red bell peppers to ours. I’m a vegetarian, so I thought about using tempeh, tofu, or seitan in your Domodo recipe to substitute for chicken— I’m excited to try it! We used to go to an African restaurant in Colorado, near Eldorado Springs. I remember the meals were served in giant, flat dishes for communal eating at the table. There was no silverware, but a wonderful spongy flatbread was used, instead, to soak up/scoop up the food. It was extraordinarily delicious!
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I hope you like the domoda! You can also leave out the meat entirely, since you get protein with the peanut butter. Add carrots, sweet potatoes, hunks of cabbage. In the Gambia you would also get bitter tomatoes, that are just like their name indicates– very bitter! But I have never seen them here in the U.S. And my husband hopes I never find them; he didn’t like them much. The meal you describe in Colorado was likely Ethiopian food, with that large bread. Also yummy!
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