COPPERMoambe recipe
The national chicken stew of the two Congos, built on pounded and sieved palm nut pulp that turns the sauce deep red and releases its oil on the surface.
Ingredients
- 400 g palm nut pulp
- 1200 g chicken
- 2 tbsp palm oil
- 1 onion
- 2 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 300 ml water
How to make Moambe
- With fresh palm nuts, boil them 30 minutes, pound them in a mortar and press the pulp through a sieve with 300 ml of hot water; otherwise use 400 g of tinned palm nut pulp sold as moambe or sauce graine.
- Cut a 1.2 kg chicken into 8 pieces and season with 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of palm oil and brown the pieces 10 minutes on all sides, then set them aside.
- In the same pot, soften 1 sliced onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon of grated ginger for 5 minutes.
- Add 2 chopped tomatoes and 1 whole hot chili and let them melt down 5 minutes.
- Pour in the palm nut pulp and 300 ml of water, return the chicken and adjust the salt.
- Simmer uncovered on low heat for 45 minutes: the sauce must reduce until the red oil rises to the surface.
- Serve with rice, fufu or boiled plantains, with cassava leaves on the side.
What is Moambe?
Moambe is a traditional dish from Congo, simmered in one pot, and takes about 2 hours from start to finish. It is built around chicken and palm nut pulp. The recipe below uses 10 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Moambe take?
At 120 minutes it is slower than 50% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 44 dishes built on chicken. The method runs to 8 steps, the longest being 45 minutes.
Any tips for making Moambe?
Simmer the stew uncovered on low heat and let the sauce reduce until the red oil of the palm nut pulp rises to the surface.
How Moambe compares
Palm nut pulp appears in only 2 other dishes in the atlas.
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on palm nut pulp, from other countries.
Copper documents Congo alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.