Ingredients
Chicken
- 1free-range chicken, 1.6 kg, jointed into 8
- 2 tspsalt
- 1lemon, juiced
- 2 tspground white pepper
Sauce moambé
- 800 gmoambé palm nut pulp (tinned sauce graine or noix de palme), or 500 g fresh palm nuts, boiled and pounded
- 3 tbspred palm oil
- 2onions, chopped
- 3tomatoes, chopped
- 4garlic cloves, crushed
- 20 gginger, grated
- 2pili-pili chillies, left whole
- 1stock cube
- 400 mlwater
To serve
- steamed rice, chikwangue or fufu
- saka saka or another dish of greens
Directions
- Rub the chicken with the salt, lemon juice and white pepper and leave 20 minutes.
- Brown the pieces in the palm oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat, 4–5 minutes a side, until the skin is a deep red-gold. Work in batches and lift them out.
- Fry the onion in the same oil for 8 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger and tomato and cook 10 minutes to a thick base.
- Stir in the moambé pulp and the water. It will look thin and orange at this stage; do not panic and thicken it.
- Return the chicken, add the whole chillies and the stock cube, and simmer uncovered over low heat for 40–45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes so the pulp does not catch on the base.
- It is ready when the oil separates and floats in an orange film on the surface and the sauce coats the chicken thickly. This separation is the sign every Congolese cook waits for.
- Fish out the chillies, or crush one into the pot if you want it hot, taste for salt and rest 10 minutes off the heat.
- Serve with rice, chikwangue or fufu and a bowl of greens, ladling plenty of the red oil over everything.
Technique
- Moambé is the pulp pressed from the boiled fruit of the oil palm: nutty, faintly sour, not sweet, and quite unlike peanut. Tinned sauce graine from an African grocer is what most cooks use, in Brazzaville and Kinshasa alike.
- It is claimed as the national dish on both banks of the Congo river, and the technique is identical in both republics; the Congolese argument is about who does it better, not about the recipe.
- The finished stew should be red-orange and glossy, never brown. Resist the urge to add tomato purée or extra stock powder to darken it.
- The palm oil that rises to the top is not a fault to be skimmed off. It is spooned over the fufu.
Substitutions
- No moambé pulp: 200 g smooth peanut butter loosened with 400 ml water plus 3 tbsp palm oil gives a related, nuttier stew. It is what most diaspora cooks do, and it is honest, but it is not the same dish.
- No pili-pili: any hot chilli, added whole so you control the heat.
- Chicken can be swapped for goat or beef, which need 1 hour 30 minutes.
Variations
- Moambé de chèvre, made with goat and a longer simmer.
- The DRC version, poulet à la moambé, which often has spinach or cassava leaf cooked into the pot.
- A version with smoked fish instead of chicken, made on days without meat.
History
Chicken simmered in pulp pressed from oil palm fruit, claimed as national dish by both Congos and served with cassava leaves and rice.
Frequently asked questions
What is Poulet moambé?
Poulet moambé is a main from Republic of the Congo: chicken stewed in moambé palm butter, with rice or chikwangue. Chicken simmered in pulp pressed from oil palm fruit, claimed as national dish by both Congos and served with cassava leaves and rice.
How long does Poulet moambé take to make?
Poulet moambé takes 20 min of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Poulet moambé?
Yes, within limits. No moambé pulp: 200 g smooth peanut butter loosened with 400 ml water plus 3 tbsp palm oil gives a related, nuttier stew. It is what most diaspora cooks do, and it is honest, but it is not the same dish. No pili-pili: any hot chilli, added whole so you control the heat. Chicken can be swapped for goat or beef, which need 1 hour 30 minutes.
What is the most important thing to get right in Poulet moambé?
Stir in the moambé pulp and the water. It will look thin and orange at this stage; do not panic and thicken it.
