Wash your hands with soap and water. Use a knife and cutting board to chop the carrots, onion, and garlic. Place them in a prep bowl when finished.
Chop the tomato, celery, and chile. If you're using fresh cilantro, you can chop that now as well. Transfer the ingredients to a clean prep bowl.
Head to the stove and turn it to medium heat.
Add the oil to the saucier or pan and allow it to heat up.
Add the cumin. If you're using cumin seeds, allow them to fry for a minute while stirring.
Add the carrots, onion, and garlic from the prep bowl to your pan and give it a stir.
Add the prepped tomato, celery, and chile to the pan and stir.
Drop your bay leaf into the pan.
Use measuring spoons as needed to add the salt, lemon juice, and cilantro. Stir the ingredients to coat them in the oil. Sauté the vegetables for about 5 minutes or until they soften.
Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes.
Add the peanut butter: If you're using creamy peanut butter, you can add it now. If you're using powdered as we do, you'll want to add the appropriate amount of water and mix it up before adding it to the pan. You can add some of the stock to the pan if that helps you work the peanut butter into the vegetables. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the oil separates from the peanut butter.
Add your vegetable stock or broth to the pan. Use your wooden spoon to remove the bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan as you mix everything together.
Turn up the heat to medium-high and let it simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally as it cooks.
Remove the bay leaf from the pan. Turn off the stove. Use an immersion blender or a standard blender to puree this easy peanut sauce. Add additional salt as desired.
Serve this Mother Africa sauce with your favorite mains and sides.