Chicken Moambe, Chicken Moambe, kinda fun to say. This dish comes to us from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which as Wikipedia informs us is not to be confused with the Republic of the Congo which is right next door.
This would be a hard dish to make authentically. I usually try my best to use a good recipe that would represent how the dish would be made in its country of origin. Wikipedia lists the native ingredients as
- palm nuts
- chicken
- fish
- peanuts
- rice
- cassava (manioc) leaves
- bananas
- hot pepper sauce
Compared to the ingredients given by the recipe I used.
- 3 -4lbs chicken parts, cut in serving pieces
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- black pepper
- 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 onion, minced
- 1 dash nutmeg
- 1(8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup peanut butter, creamy and unsalted
I don’t have access to Cassava leaves or palm nuts(I am truthfully not even sure what palm nuts are). However, the recipe I used was very good.
Simmering the chicken resulted in some of the most tender chicken I have ever eaten. That process took a long time and I believe you could skip it and I probably would if I was to make this dish again. After cooking the house had a delightful peanut aroma.
I served the dish with yellow rice and a nice side salad which made for a complete meal(majority of my meals are just the main with no sides). The taste was comparable to Pad Thai chicken stew. I would make this again.
Recipe is available here and the wikipedia page for the dish is available here.