Moambe chicken

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1.6 kgchicken, jointed into 10 pieces
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tspwhite pepper
• 3 tbspred palm oil

Moambe sauce

• 800 gtinned palm nut pulp (noix de palme / sauce graine), or 1.5 kg fresh palm nuts
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated
• 4tomatoes, grated, or 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2–4pili-pili chillies, whole or chopped to taste
• 1 tbspground crayfish (optional)
• 500 mlwater or light chicken stock
• 1 tspsalt

To serve

• steamed white rice or fufu
• pondu (cassava leaf stew)
• fried ripe plantains

Directions

1. If you are starting from fresh palm nuts, boil them 30–40 minutes until the flesh is soft, pound them in a mortar, then work the pulp with hot water and strain to extract a thick orange cream. Tinned pulp saves this hour of work and is what most Kinshasa kitchens now use.
2. Wash the chicken with lime juice, dry it, and season with salt and white pepper.
3. Brown the pieces in the palm oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat, 4 minutes a side, until the skin takes on colour. Lift out.
4. Cook the onion in the same oil for 8 minutes until soft and golden, then add garlic, ginger and chilli and fry 1 minute.
5. Stir in the grated tomato and cook 5 minutes until it thickens and darkens.
6. Add the palm nut pulp and the water, whisk smooth, bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes, stirring, until the sauce reduces slightly and a distinct layer of orange-red oil rises to the surface. That separated oil is the sign the sauce is properly cooked.
7. Return the chicken with any resting juices, cover, and simmer gently 30–35 minutes until the meat is falling off the bone and the sauce is thick enough to coat it heavily.
8. Skim off some of the surface oil if you like, check the salt, and serve with rice or fufu, a bowl of pondu, and fried plantain.

Technique

• Moambe is the pulp of the oil-palm fruit, not a peanut sauce. It has a savoury, faintly sour, mineral taste that nothing else replicates, and the dish is claimed as a national dish by both Congos, Gabon and Angola, where it is called nyembwe or muamba.
• Confusion with peanut stew is common outside Africa. Some cooks do add a spoon of peanut paste for body, but a sauce made entirely from peanut butter is a different dish.
• Cook the sauce until the oil separates before the chicken goes back in. Rushing this leaves a raw, chalky palm flavour.

Substitutions

• No palm nut pulp: the honest workaround is 200 g smooth peanut butter loosened with stock and 3 tbsp red palm oil for colour and aroma. Say what it is: it will taste good, but it is not moambe.

Variations

• Poulet a la moambe with aubergine chunks simmered in the sauce, common in Bandundu.
• Moambe made with beef, goat or smoked fish instead of chicken.

History

Chicken cooked in pulp pressed from oil palm fruit, called mwambe in Lingala and treated as the national dish of the Congo.

Frequently asked questions

What is Moambe chicken?

Moambe chicken is a main from DR Congo: chicken stewed in palm-cream moambe sauce with rice and pondu. Chicken cooked in pulp pressed from oil palm fruit, called mwambe in Lingala and treated as the national dish of the Congo.

How long does Moambe chicken take to make?

Moambe chicken takes 25 min of preparation and 1 hr 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Moambe chicken?

Yes, within limits. No palm nut pulp: the honest workaround is 200 g smooth peanut butter loosened with stock and 3 tbsp red palm oil for colour and aroma. Say what it is: it will taste good, but it is not moambe.