Maafe is West African peanut stew — a dish built on groundnut paste, tomato, and time. It is not the dish you expect to see in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Niema Digrazia, who runs Abby Singer's Bistro in Shreveport, brought it to Bobby's kitchen in 2025 anyway. The technique she would have leaned on is the one maafe lives or dies by: blooming the tomato paste in oil until it goes brick-red and sweet, then whisking the peanut paste in slowly so it loosens rather than seizing. Skip either step and you get peanut soup. Do both and you get a stew that tastes like four hours of work compressed into one bowl.
Bobby has lost to African cuisine a handful of times in this ledger. This is one of those handful.