Muamba de Galinha (Chicken Stew)

                                                                               Receta en Español



 

Muamba de Galinha

Muamba de Galinha is a traditional dish in Angola, it is related to the Poulet moambe the Congo River region.

Muamba de Galinha is made with chicken, onion, palm oil or muamba of dendem, garlic, okra and a type of Angolan chilli called gindungo. (I Will substitute it for chilli peppers).

Ingredients:

• A chicken, cut into serving pieces.
• Juice of one lemon (optional).
• One cup (100 ml) of red palm oil (or a mixture of palm oil and other cooking oil).
• 2 or 3 chopped onions.
• Two cloves of garlic chopped.
• A chilli pepper (or guindungo) removed entirely after cooking for a slightly spicy dish, or cut without the seeds for a spicy dish.
• 3 tomatoes (peeled if desired) cut into quarters.
• 300 g of chopped pumpkin.
• One or two dozen Okra , washed and with the ends cut. We can use them whole, cut lengthwise in half or into pieces depending on the effect we want to give to the dish. Okra makes a gelatinous dish,the more cut into pieces the greater is the gelatinous effect.I decided to cut  them lengthwise in half (see picture below).
•  Salt to taste.

Where to buy the ingredients:

The hardest to find are the okra and palm oil.I bought both in Lavapies, near the metro in Miguel Servet  Street where you can find multicultural food stores.

Method:

1. If you want ,you can marinate the chicken, you should rub the chicken with a mixture of lemon juice, garlic, chillies and salt. We leave it like that for one hour (we can leave for 15 minutes to one hour, as we prefer).

 

2.   We put the palm oil in a large pot and place it over medium heat, then we add the chicken and cook it just a little without allowing it to be done.

3.  Next add the onion, garlic, chilli, tomato and salt. After five minutes pour water to cover the chicken.

4.  Stir occasionally and cook over medium heat for one hour, until chicken is almost done.

5. Add the pumpkin and a little water if you see that there is little into the pot, cook until chicken is completely done.

6. Now is time to add the okra, stir, and cook for another 10 or 15 minutes until the okra is tender.

The most traditional accompaniment to Muamba de Galinha is Funge that can be made ​​with corn or cassava flour.

You can also serve it with rice instead of Funge.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

My comments to the recipe:

I must confess that I was afraid for the outcome of the recipe, I had not tried palm oil until now. Palm oil has a strong test to which we are not use in Europe, but I must say that mixed with pumpkin and okra is quite enjoyable to eat.
I can say that I enjoyed trying this dish which allowed me to experiment  a new taste from the point of wiew of a European palate.

 

Angola