Plate 08 of 10

Pinda Soep with Tom Tom

Name: Pinda Soep with Tom Tom
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Suriname
Ingredients: 350 g Pure smooth dark-roasted peanut butter, peanuts and salt only; 800 g Bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed, halved across the bone; 200 g Smoked pork belly or smoked chicken, in 1 cm cubes; 2 L Unsalted chicken stock or water, hot; 1 medium Yellow onion, finely minced; 6 cloves Garlic, crushed to a paste with salt; 30 g Surinamese celery leaves, finely chopped; 8 whole Allspice berries, lightly cracked; 30 ml Neutral oil; 15 g Fine sea salt; 3 g Freshly ground black pepper; 1 whole Madame Jeanette pepper, unbroken; 650 g Green plantains, peeled and cut into 2.5 cm rounds

The Creole peanut soup descended from West African groundnut stews. Chicken and smoked pork simmered with allspice and a whole Madame Jeanette, pure roasted peanut butter tempered with hot broth and whisked in to a velvet, and tom tom, green plantains boiled and pounded scorching hot into smooth, resilient dumplings, dropped in at the end.

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 50 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Medium

Researched · Kitchen testing pending

A bowl of creamy orange peanut soup with shredded chicken and three smooth plantain tom tom dumplings, garnished with celery leaf.

Pinda soep with tom tom is a masterwork of Afro-Surinamese Creole cooking that traces straight to West African groundnut soups. In Suriname the peanut technique met Amazonian chillies and European smoked meats and became a Paramaribo favourite for its velvet body.

The soup is pure roasted peanut butter whisked into a chicken broth scented with allspice and celery leaf and smoked meat. Floating in it are tom tom, green plantains boiled and pounded in a wooden mortar into a silky, resilient dough, shaped into spheres that soak up the nutty broth without falling apart.

Ingredients

Soup
350 gPure smooth dark-roasted peanut butter, peanuts and salt only
800 gBone-in chicken thighs, skin removed, halved across the bone
200 gSmoked pork belly or smoked chicken, in 1 cm cubes
2 LUnsalted chicken stock or water, hot
1 mediumYellow onion, finely minced
6 clovesGarlic, crushed to a paste with salt
30 gSurinamese celery leaves, finely chopped
8 wholeAllspice berries, lightly cracked
30 mlNeutral oil
15 gFine sea saltdivided between soup and dumplings
3 gFreshly ground black pepper
1 wholeMadame Jeanette pepper, unbroken
Tom tom
650 gGreen plantains, peeled and cut into 2.5 cm rounds

Temper the peanut butter

Peanut butter is half fat and a quarter protein. Dumped into boiling broth it splits and the oil floats. Whisked first with ladles of hot broth off the heat, then simmered below 90 °C, the peanut proteins hold the liquid in a velvet suspension.

Pound the plantain hot

Boiled green plantain is full of gelatinised resistant starch. Pounded while scorching, the cells burst and the amylose aligns into a cohesive, elastic dough that keeps its shape in hot soup. Let it cool and it turns to rubber.

The five tastes on this plate

Salt seasons the broth, the pork and the dumplings. Fat is the peanut's own lipids in a smooth emulsion. Acid is mild, with a squeeze of lime if you like. Heat is the floating pepper, garlic, black pepper and allspice. Umami is chicken marrow, smoked pork and roasted peanut.

Equipment

6-quart enamelled cast-iron Dutch oven
Saucepan, for the plantains
Wooden mortar and pestle, or a sturdy masher or potato ricer
Whisk and a mixing bowl
Flat wooden spatula

The Creole kitchen pounds tom tom in a heavy wooden pilón. A masher or ricer works if you use it hard and fast while the plantain is hot. The heavy pot matters because peanut solids settle and scorch.

Method

Boil the plantains20 min
Boil the plantain rounds in salted water 20 minutes until soft to the centre. Drain, keeping 60 ml of the hot cooking water.
Boil the plantain rounds in salted water 20 minutes until soft to the centre. Drain, keeping 60 ml of the hot cooking water.
Pound the tom tom8 min
Tip the hot plantain straight into the mortar or bowl with half a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of the hot water. Pound hard 5 minutes until completely smooth, cohesive and elastic. With wet hands roll into 12 golf-ball-sized spheres and cover with a damp cloth.
Immediately pound hot plantain with ½ teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons hot cooking water for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Shape 12 golf-ball-sized spheres with wet hands; cover with a damp cloth.
Brown the meats6 min
Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium and sauté the smoked pork and chicken 6 minutes until lightly browned. Remove.
Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium and sauté the smoked pork and chicken 6 minutes until lightly browned. Remove.
Sauté the aromatics3 min
Add the onion, garlic paste and cracked allspice to the drippings and sauté 3 minutes until translucent.
Add the onion, garlic paste and cracked allspice to the drippings and sauté 3 minutes until translucent.
Simmer the broth25 min
Return the meats. Add 1.5 litres hot stock and a teaspoon of salt, float the whole Madame Jeanette, cover, and simmer over medium-low 25 minutes until the chicken is tender.
Return the meats. Add 1.5 litres hot stock and a teaspoon of salt, float the whole Madame Jeanette, cover, and simmer over medium-low 25 minutes until the chicken is tender.
Temper the peanut butter3 min
Put the peanut butter in a bowl and ladle in 500 ml of the hot broth. Whisk hard until completely smooth and lump-free.
Put the peanut butter in a bowl and ladle in 500 ml of the hot broth. Whisk hard until completely smooth and lump-free.
Thicken15 min
Pour the tempered peanut mixture into the pot, whisking. Reduce to low and simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring often from the bottom with the flat spatula, until it has the body of heavy cream.
Whisk the tempered peanut mixture into the pot. Simmer uncovered on low, below 90 °C, for 15 minutes, stirring frequently from the bottom with a flat spatula, until thick as heavy cream.
Add the tom tom and serve5 min
Lift out the pepper. Stir in the celery leaves and black pepper. Drop the dumplings in gently and simmer 3 minutes to heat through. Ladle into wide bowls with two or three tom tom, chicken and smoked pork in each.
Remove the pepper; stir in celery leaves and black pepper. Gently add dumplings and simmer 3 minutes to heat through. Serve in wide bowls, each with 2–3 tom tom, chicken and smoked pork.
09
Sensory cues of doneness
- Visual: a thick, creamy, light-caramel soup with a velvet sheen and green celery flecks, smooth yellow-green dumplings floating in it.
- Auditory: slow, deep, viscous bubbling, and the thud of the pestle on hot plantain.
- Olfactory: toasted peanut, allspice, wood smoke, sweet plantain and floral pepper.
Look for creamy light-caramel soup with a velvet sheen, celery flecks and smooth yellow-green dumplings. Keep bubbling slow and deep; expect toasted peanut, allspice, wood smoke, plantain and floral pepper aromas.

Storing it

The peanut starch sets hard when chilled. Reheat gently over low heat, whisking in half a cup to a cup of hot broth or water to bring back the velvet.

Troubleshooting

An oily, separated soup.: It boiled violently, or the peanut butter had sugar and palm oil in it. Pure peanut butter, tempered first, simmered low.
Tough, rubbery tom tom.: The plantain cooled before pounding, or was not pounded enough. Pound it scorching hot until elastic.
A scorched bottom.: Peanut solids settled. Once the peanut butter is in, stir from the bottom every two or three minutes.

Substitutions

One-to-one swaps, with the technique change each one needs.

Ingredient substitutions

Ingredient	Replace with	Culinary impact and technique adjustment
Pure peanut butter	Freshly roasted peanuts puréed with a little neutral oil until smooth	One-to-one
Green plantains	Green cooking bananas, or boiled cassava mashed smooth	One-to-one for the dumplings
Smoked pork	Smoked turkey drumstick meat or smoked sausage	One-to-one

Scaling

Half

Halve everything, six tom tom, in a 3½-quart Dutch oven.

Double

A 12-quart stockpot, and whisk the peanut butter with a full litre of hot broth in a big bowl before it goes in.

What to serve it with

A small bowl of steamed white rice, to spoon in
Kroepoek cassava crackers
Extra warm tom tom on a side plate

Questions

Can I use a supermarket peanut butter?

Sweetened, palm-oil brands make the soup sweet and split it. Use one whose label reads peanuts and salt.

Ripe plantain for tom tom?

Traditional tom tom is green. Some cooks make moksi tom tom with half green, half ripe, for a sweet-savoury balance.

How do I reheat it?

Gently, on low, whisking in hot broth or water until it is velvet again.