Moambe chicken (french: poulet à la moambe or simply , pt, moamba de galinha) is a

savory Savory or Savoury may refer to: Common usage * Herbs of the genus ''Satureja'', particularly: ** Summer savory (''Satureja hortensis''), an annual herb, used to flavor food ** Winter savory (''Satureja montana''), a perennial herb, also used to ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...

dish popular in

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, E ...

and considered the

national dish A national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country. A dish can be considered a national dish for a variety of reasons: * It is a staple food, made from a selection of locally available foodstuffs that can be ...

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. The dish itself is made by combining chicken, spices and palm butter to create a stew-like consistency. A number of local or regional variations exist across the Congo and Central Africa; the dish is also known outside the continent.

Preparation

Poulet moambe (French for "chicken in palm butter sauce") is prepared by cooking chicken in

moambe Palm butter or palm cream, frequently known as moambe, mwambe or nyembwe, is an ingredient made from the pericarp (not the seeds) of palm nuts, the fruit of the African oil palm (''Elaeis guineensis'') tree. It forms an important ingredient in ...

(palm butter) and spinach, then seasoned with spices like ''

peri-peri ( , often hyphenated or as one word, and with variant spellings , ''piripiri'' or ) is a cultivar of '' Capsicum frutescens'' from the malagueta pepper. It was originally produced by Portuguese explorers in Portugal's former Southern African ...

'' or red pepper. It is typically served with

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato ('' Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young ...

es, brown onions, hard boiled eggs and a sauce made from crushed palm nuts. Moambe chicken can also be accompanied by rice or manioc (

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated a ...

) paste. The chicken can be substituted with duck or fish.

Popularity

Moambe chicken is regarded as the

of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It is also considered the national dish of

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

where it is known as ''poulet nyembwe'', and in

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

where it is known as ', although the Angolan dish is "purely Brazilian" in origin. It is a common household dish in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. Angolan moamba chicken can be found in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, for example at the Lisbon restaurant Shilabo's.

References

External links

La moambe
at

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Com ...

Poulet à la moambe
at Cuisineaz {{DEFAULTSORT:Poulet a la Moambe Chicken dishes National dishes Democratic Republic of the Congo cuisine Angolan cuisine Gabonese cuisine Spicy foods