Palm nuts grow on the oil palm tree, which is common across Central and West Africa. To make moambé sauce, the bright red-orange palm nuts are boiled until soft, then pounded and squeezed to extract a thick, richly flavoured paste. This is the heart of the dish — without it, moambé is not moambé.
The word 'moambé' comes from a Kikongo word referring to the palm-nut sauce itself. Variations of this dish are enjoyed across Central Africa — in Angola, Cameroon and beyond — but the Congolese version, slow-cooked until the chicken is falling off the bone in the golden sauce, is considered by many to be the finest.
Moambé is typically served with fufu, making a complete and very filling meal. It is eaten at family gatherings, celebrations and every ordinary Tuesday in between. The smell of moambé cooking — garlicky, spiced and rich — is one of the most recognised comfort smells in Congolese homes.
Preparing moambé from scratch takes time and love. Some families spend hours pounding palm nuts by hand. Others use prepared moambé paste bought at the market. Either way, the end result — that golden, fragrant stew — is something that Congolese people living anywhere in the world often list as one of the flavours they miss most from home.