Gindungo

Ingredients

Sauce

• 80 gfresh jindungo chillies (African bird’s eye or malagueta), stems removed
• 6garlic cloves, peeled
• 1small onion, roughly chopped
• 1.5 tspfine salt
• 60 mlred palm oil, or sunflower oil
• juice of 2 limes, about 60 ml
• 60 mlwater
• 1 tspcaster sugar, optional

Optional additions

• 1small tomato, chopped, for a milder, redder sauce
• 1 tbspchopped coriander stems

Directions

1. Wear gloves. Jindungo is fierce and the oils stay on your hands for hours.
2. Pound the chillies, garlic, onion and salt in a large wooden mortar, working in small batches, until you have a coarse, wet paste with flecks still visible. A short pulse in a blender does it too, but the mortar gives a better texture.
3. Warm the palm oil in a small pan over low heat until it turns clear red, then take it off the heat and let it cool for 2 minutes.
4. Stir the warm oil into the paste a little at a time, so it emulsifies rather than sitting on top.
5. Add the lime juice, water and the sugar if using, and stir until the sauce is loose enough to spoon but still thick enough to cling.
6. Taste with a fragment of bread rather than a finger, and adjust salt and lime; it should be sharply hot, salty and sour in that order.
7. Let it stand 30 minutes for the raw onion edge to soften.
8. Spoon into a clean jar, cover the surface with a film of oil and keep in the fridge. It sharpens over the first three days and keeps two weeks.

Technique

• Gindungo, or jindungo, is both the name of the chilli and of the sauce, and a dish of it stands on every Angolan table so that each person seasons their own plate. It is a condiment, not a cooking sauce.
• The lime and salt are structural, not decorative: they preserve the raw paste and keep the colour bright. A sauce made without acid darkens and ferments within days.
• Palm oil gives the Luanda version its colour and rounded body. Made with sunflower oil, the sauce is sharper and cleaner and closer to what is served inland.

Substitutions

• No jindungo: use African bird’s eye, piri-piri or Thai bird chillies, all of similar heat. Scotch bonnet works but brings a fruitier, different perfume; use half the weight.
• For a milder sauce that still tastes right, keep the same chilli count but deseed half of them and add a chopped tomato.

Variations

• A fermented version, salted at 3% and left covered at room temperature for four days before the oil and lime go in.
• Gindungo with pounded roasted peanuts stirred through, which shades it towards kitaba.
• A whole-chilli version, left in oil and lime for a week and served as pickled chillies alongside grilled food.

History

Gindungo is the Kimbundu word for chili; the small hot peppers arrived from the Americas and now define Angolan seasoning.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gindungo?

Gindungo is a sauce & condiment from Angola: fiery chili and garlic sauce set on every Angolan table. Gindungo is the Kimbundu word for chili; the small hot peppers arrived from the Americas and now define Angolan seasoning.

How long does Gindungo take to make?

Gindungo takes 15 min of preparation and 5 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 250 ml. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Gindungo?

Yes, within limits. No jindungo: use African bird’s eye, piri-piri or Thai bird chillies, all of similar heat. Scotch bonnet works but brings a fruitier, different perfume; use half the weight. For a milder sauce that still tastes right, keep the same chilli count but deseed half of them and add a chopped tomato.

What is the most important thing to get right in Gindungo?

Stir the warm oil into the paste a little at a time, so it emulsifies rather than sitting on top.