MUAMBA DE GALINHA - ANGOLAN CHICKEN STEW

Palm oil is an edible plant oil and is derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. It is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content. Palm oil is a common cooking ingredient in the tropical belt of Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of Brazil. Human use of oil palms may date as far back as 5,000 years; in the late 1800s, archaeologists discovered a substance that they concluded was originally palm oil in a tomb at Abydos dating back to 3,000 BCE. It is believed that Arab traders brought the oil palm to Egypt.
 

Serves 4-6
1 hour + marinating time


Ingredients

• 1 chicken, cut into serving sized pieces
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1-2 piri piri peppers (Africa birds eye chili), chopped, seeds removed
• 1 dl olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 dl red palm oil
• 1 aubergine, peeled and cut into pieces
• 300 g okra (lady´s fingers), sliced with ends removed
• Rice, cooked following pack instructions, to serve

Method

1. Rub the chicken with a mixture of lemon juice, garlic, piri piri pepper and salt, then let it marinate for at least 1 hour.
2. In a deep skillet or a dutch oven sauté the onion and the chicken in the olive oil until browned but not done.
3. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Now add enough water so that it barely covers the chicken, then stir in the palm oil, aubergine and okra and cook until everything is tender.
5. Serve with the rice.

In Angola, the most common and most traditional accompaniment to Muamba is funge, a paste or porridge made from cassava (manioc) flour. It is a very common dish often consumed at every meal in poorer households and was introduced from South America by the Portuguese.

Tip!
If the sauce is watery, you can thicken it just before serving by mixing a few tablespoons of corn starch or corn flour with hot palm oil (from the cooking pot), then stirring the mixture into the dish and simmering a few minutes.