COPPERWhat is the national dish of the Republic of the Congo?
The Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) has no official national dish, but poulet moambé is the one most often cited: chicken simmered in pounded, sieved palm nut pulp until red oil rises, eaten with fufu, rice or plantain. It is shared with the DR Congo across the river; a peanut butter version is called muamba nsusu, nsusu meaning chicken in Kikongo.
What is poulet moambé?
Poulet moambé is chicken cooked in moambe, or palm butter: the orange flesh of the oil palm fruit, boiled, pounded, mixed with water and sieved. It is the sauce, not the chicken, that makes the dish. The pulp turns it deep red and, as it reduces, releases its own oil onto the surface.
Chicken is the classic, but the same palm butter is also cooked with fish, beef, mutton or game.
No law or decree names it the national dish. Wikipedia's list of national dishes gives poulet moambé for both Congos, and Congolese food sellers describe it the same way. The stew is shared with Kinshasa, on the other bank of the Congo River.
How poulet moambé is made
With fresh palm nuts, our moambe recipe starts by boiling them for 30 minutes, pounding them in a mortar and pressing the pulp through a sieve with 500 ml of hot water. Without fresh nuts, 400 g of tinned pulp, sold as moambe or sauce graine, does the same job.
A 1.2 kg chicken is cut into 8 pieces and browned for 10 minutes in 2 tablespoons of palm oil, then set aside. An onion, two garlic cloves and a tablespoon of ginger soften in the same pot, followed by two tomatoes and a whole chilli.
The pulp goes in with 300 ml of water and the chicken. Everything simmers uncovered on low heat for 45 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and the red oil has risen to the top. That layer of oil is the sign the dish is done.
Palm nuts or peanut butter?
There are two versions. The palm version above is the one that gives poulet moambé its colour. In the Republic of the Congo, Wikipedia notes, the version made with peanut butter instead is known as muamba nsusu, from the Kikongo word for chicken.
Across the river, the DR Congo makes the same stew and also treats it as its national dish; see our article on the national dish of the DR Congo.
What is served with moambe in Congo?
Moambe comes with a starch to scoop it up and often a green vegetable on the side:
- Fufu: cassava soaked for about 3 days, sun-dried and milled, then stirred into boiling water with corn flour and worked for 10 minutes into golf-ball-sized portions.
- Rice or boiled plantains.
- Saka saka, pounded cassava leaves, called pondu in both Congos. A 1967 Congolese postage stamp shows a woman pounding it.
- Chikwangue, the fermented cassava loaf cooked in leaves.
Liboké, the other contender
If one dish rivals moambe in Brazzaville, it is liboké (plural maboké): fish or meat sealed in banana leaves and cooked over embers. It belongs to the whole Congo River basin, and in 2025 the word entered the Petit Larousse French dictionary.
Our liboké recipe uses a whole 1 kg river fish, slashed on both sides and rubbed with onion, garlic, tomato, chilli, lemon and palm oil, then rested for an hour. The banana leaves are passed over a flame for a few seconds so they stop tearing, and the parcel cooks 30 to 40 minutes on moderate embers. It is opened at the table so the steam escapes in front of the guests.
A bunch of African basil goes on the fish before the leaves are folded and tied, and the juices left in the leaf are spooned over the fish when it is served with fufu or boiled plantains.
Other dishes to know from the Republic of the Congo
Fufu is the one to master first. The trick in our recipe is to slake three tablespoons of the flour blend in 100 ml of cold water, whisk it into the boiling water for 2 minutes, and only then rain in the rest while stirring hard, so that no lumps form. It is served hot, and each diner pinches off a piece to scoop the sauce.
Saka saka has no fixed recipe: depending on the family it is cooked with palm oil, peanut paste, maize or papaya, and eaten with cassava, plantain, bread or rice. Liboké is just as flexible. Capitaine, a river perch, is the most popular filling, but beef and other meats are wrapped the same way with tomato, onion, peppers, garlic and ginger, and the parcel can go in the oven as well as on a grill.
You will find all three recipes, with ingredients and step-by-step methods, on our page about the food of the Republic of the Congo. For the wider family of palm nut stews and cassava dishes, see our guide to Central African food.
The recipes
Fufu
LibokéQuestions people ask
Is moambe from Congo-Brazzaville or Congo-Kinshasa?
Both. Poulet moambé is cooked on both banks of the Congo River and is cited as the national dish of both countries; neither has made it official.
What is the difference between moambe and muamba nsusu?
Moambe is cooked in palm nut pulp. Muamba nsusu is the version made with peanut butter; nsusu means chicken in Kikongo.
What is served with poulet moambé?
Fufu, rice or boiled plantains, often with saka saka (pounded cassava leaves) on the side.
What is liboké?
Liboké is fish or meat marinated with chilli, onion and tomato, sealed in banana leaves and cooked over embers or in the oven. It is made in both Congos.
What is saka saka called in Congo?
In both Congos it is usually called pondu, a Lingala word. It is made from cassava leaves pounded and then boiled.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Congo: 10 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Cameroon?
- What is the national dish of the Central African Republic?
- What is the national dish of Chad?
- What is the national dish of the DR Congo?
- What is the national dish of Equatorial Guinea?