Muamba de Galinha - Angolan Chicken Curry

Muamba de Galinha - Angolan Chicken Curry

Wikipedia says Muamba de Galinha is the National Dish of Angola. This simple yet tasty chicken dish is cooked specially in Palm Oil, which is the major cash crop of Angola. I came to know about this dish while reading about a traveller's diary. He mentioned about this dish, which he had in most Angolan home during his stay in that country, but he did not mention the recipe. I went through a few web sites and tried out a few common recipes to find the best suited and tastiest one for myself and my friends. I knew that the taste of Palm Oil was not very much liked by everyone, hence, I changed it to Groundnut Oil. If any one reading this recipe, has ever had the original dish, I would request them to test my version and give me a feedback.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes
Marination Time  :  1 hour
Cooking Time      :  30 minutes
Difficulty              :   Easy
Serves                  :   4 - 6

Ingredients :

1 whole Chicken, cut into serving-sized pieces

1 Lemon

250 ml Palm Oil (or Groundnut oil with 2 tsp Paprika)

3 Onions, chopped

2 Garlic cloves , minced

Salt to taste

1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (or other Chili Pepper, left whole)

3 Tomatoes, quartered

1 cup Sweet Pumpkin de-seeded, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

20 Okra (small, tender, washed and top & tail chopped)

 

Method :

 1) Squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken and allow to marinate for about an hour. 

 

  2) Place a medium sized pan over Medium - high heat. Add the oil to pan once it is completely hot.

 

  3) Carefully put the chicken pieces in the pan and brown on all sides. You can add them in batches if they are too many to fit at once. Do not overcrowd the pan.

 

  4) Once the chicken pieces are well browned take them out of the pan and set aside.

 

  5) In the same oil add the onion, garlic, whole chili and tomato. You can de-seed the chili pepper to have a milder curry.

 

  6) Reduce the heat to medium and keep stirring occasionally, cook for about 10 minutes or till tomatoes are soft.

 

  7) Then add the pumpkin pieces and cook for an additional 15 minutes before adding the chicken pieces and the okra. 

 

  8) Add some water, amounting to 1 cup or enough to form a curry base, bring to boil and then put the heat to simmer.

 

  9) Simmer for a few minutes until the okra is tender, season and serve with rice or a maize-based fufu (Fufu are Maize dumplings, made out of maize flour and steamed over a double boiler or momo steamer. This is the major carb eaten in most African households.)