Mwambé (Congo)

More leftovers to finish. A jar of palm oil. The distinct taste of the oil makes it best for African cooking.

Mwambé
Mix 500 gram meat (diced) with lemon juice, salt and hot pepper and marinate.

Heat palm oil and fry one onion. Add meat and fry until it's browned.

Add 3 or 4 tomatoes and water. Simmer.

Add palm nut sauce. Now, this is a problem. Mwambé or nyembwe sauce, or alternatively: canned palm soup base, also called "sauce graine" or "noix de palme") is not readily available in Amsterdam. Apparently you can use peanut butter (containing only peanuts and salt). If peanut butter is used, the dish is transformed into Muamba Nsusu.

Add greens (spinach or similar greens) and simmer for one hour.

Muamba Nsusu
Fill a large pot with enough water for soup. Bring it to a boil. Add one chicken and boil it until the meat is done and a broth is obtained.

While the chicken is boiling, gently sauté one onion in several tablespoons of palm oil until the onion is tender.

Remove the chicken from the broth and remove meat from bones. (Save the broth and keep it at a low simmer.)

Combine one cup of the chicken broth with half a cup (125 ml) peanut butter and a small can of tomato paste and stir until smooth.

Return the chicken meat to the broth and add the peanut butter-tomato paste mixture. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thickened.

More palm oil recipes:

Palm-Oil Chop
Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven over high heat. Fry chicken and beef until browned on the outside. Add ginger (or cinnamon) as the meat is frying. (It might be best to fry the meat in two or three batches; meat browns best when the pieces are fried without touching one another.) Set the meat aside after it is browned.

Fry vegetables of your choice (tomatoes, onion, okra, bell pepper, chili pepper) in the same pot, reduce heat and simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes. Stir vigorously to partially mash the vegetables.

Add prawns, tomato paste, palm soup base, thyme, spices. Stir. Add enough water to make a smooth sauce while continuing to stir. Reduce heat. Simmer for an additional five to ten minutes.

Add the chicken and meat and simmer for an additional thirty minutes to an hour or more, stirring regularly. Make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Some people prefer to remove some of the red oil which separates from the palm fruit as it cooked; if it is not removed it should be stirred into the sauce.

Serve with Rice and garnishes. Diners should get a plate of Chop over rice and should add garnishes (below) of their choice right on top.

Garnishes
hard-boiled eggs (everyone must have a hard-boiled egg)
sliced boiled yam or sweet potato
breadcrumbs or croutons
sliced fruit: such as banana, mango, orange, papaya, pineapple, etc.
shredded lettuce
parsley
chopped nuts
shredded coconut
sliced tomato
sliced onion: raw or fried
chile peppers
chutney
African Hot Sauce
salt, black pepper, red pepper

Palmnut stew
Boil one ox trail, shrimp, chicken in plenty of water.

Add onion, tomato and hot peppers. After 15 minutes remove onion, tomato and hot peppers and mix into a puree and return to pot.

Add palm nut cream according to taste. The more the heavier your stew will be. Stir. Simmer.

Add dried okra powder and season.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjun9iPAoIM

Okra stew
At least you don't need palm nut cream for this recipe, just the palm oil.

Fry onion in normal oil. Add chicken pieces and fry.

Add a couple of tablespoons red palm oil.

Add water and hot peppers. Stir and cook.

Season (Maggi cube) and add plenty of fresh okra. Boil for another 30 minutes.