#18 - African Peanut Soup

No idea why it's called "African" peanut soup.  I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, which is still my go-to site for new recipes.  It was a chunky soup (not blended like most of my other soups have been) and was pretty tasty.  It wasn't spicy enough and could have had more peanuts/peanut butter, but everyone (me, two sisters, and one brother-in-law) still enjoyed it.  I would definitely make it again, but would up the flavoring a bit by making the adjustments I've added to the instructions below.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (or sent through a garlic press)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, with liquid
8 cups (2 quarts) vegetable broth or stock
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2/3 cup extra crunchy peanut butter (or chopped peanuts and creamy peanut butter)
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

Instructions:
Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat.  Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning.  Stir in tomatoes, vegetable stock, pepper, and chili powder.  (More chili powder would be good as 1/4 teaspoon did not give it any heat at all.  Using cayenne pepper and closer to 1/2 teaspoon would probably be about right.)

Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes, then add the rice (but add the rice sooner if the bag says it takes more than fifteen minutes to cook).  After you add the rice, cover and simmer another fifteen minutes or until rice is tender.  Stir in peanut butter until well blended.  (If you don't have crunchy peanut butter you can use 1/3 cup chopped peanuts plus 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter.  I would actually recommend using chopped peanuts no matter what because they added a nice crunch to the soup.  Also, more peanut butter would only make this soup more delicious.)

New ingredients: Ummm... peanuts and peanut butter in real food?  In something that's not a peanut butter sandwich or dessert I mean.
New skills: I'm learning a bit about flavoring and spiciness :)