The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Congo Chicken

Preparing to make our first project meal required some family discussion. We wanted to prepare food that was still nutritious and obviously we were hoping we would all enjoy it and be willing to eat the meal. We don't like to waste food and I am not a fan of cooking a new meal after, well, cooking a meal. I think we will also be going for trying new flavors and trying authentic-as-possible foods while not having to drive all over tarnation or spend a lot of money to find specialty ingredients.

So we researched and we discussed and we found several chicken dishes with similar ingredients but different names. So this is our version of Chicken a la Moambe (fried chicken with peanut butter sauce) and/or Groundnut Stew served with Ugali. We had bananas for dessert.

I used bone in, skin on chicken leg quarters but if I were to make this dish again I would use our much more preferred skinless, boneless chicken thighs. I was trying to be more authentic with the skin on, bone in chicken but we just aren't fans and it made the dish much greasier than necessary. I wasn't sure what the family reaction would be to the groundnut stew so I cooked the chicken and stew separately. We all liked the stew, next time I would cook them together. I will include my recipe for how I would do it next time since it would #1 make for less dirty pots/pans and likely be even more delicious.

Chicken with Groundnut Stew

It did taste better than it looked.

1.5 lbs of skinless, boneless chicken in bite size pieces
oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 6 oz can tomato paste
6 oz water
1/3 cup all natural creamy peanut butter
salt, pepper, cayenne

Brown chicken in a minimal amount of hot oil in a large pot.
Remove chicken from the pan.
Cook onions until translucent. 
Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring often.
Add tomato paste, water, peanut butter and whisk until combined - add more water if too thick. Add chicken back to pot and cook for 20+ minutes at a simmer, stirring often. Season with salt, pepper and a good sprinkle of cayenne to taste.

5 year version - mix it all together! After you mix it decide you only like the chicken and sauce and require a new bowl.

 
Ugali is a cornmeal mush mixture.   I only had yellow cornmeal so our ugali was much more yellow than the pictures we found online.

 The traditional method of eating ugali (and the most common in the rural areas) is to roll a lump into a ball, and then dip it into a sauce or stew of vegetables and/or meat. Making a depression with the thumb allows the ugali to be used to scoop, and to wrap around pieces of meat to pick them up in the same way that flat bread is used in other cultures.

Our ugali was too hot (and our family too impatient) to roll it in to a ball and use it as a scoop. The ugali was not very popular with the kids but the parents thought it was fine. It was like under-seasoned and a little bit over-cooked polenta.

Ugali

4 to 6 servings

    * Water -- 4 cups
    * Salt -- 2 teaspoons
    * White cornmeal, finely ground -- 2 cups

Method

   1. Bring the water and salt to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the cornmeal slowly, letting it fall though the fingers of your hand. (uh, NO, that burns the skin right off your hands). My method - dump all the cornmeal in while trying not to steam your skin off and then whisk like crazy to remove the lumps.
   2. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring regularly, smashing any lumps with a spoon, until the mush pulls away from the sides of the pot and becomes very thick, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool somewhat. (I found this took much less time to cook)
   3. Place the ugali into a large serving bowl. Wet your hands with water, form into a ball and serve. (Or cheat and use a cookie scoop)





7 year old review: "Thank you for making that chicken. I liked the sauce. It was really good."
5 year old review: "Good. I liked the chicken. I don't really like the sauce." (funny, he ate two bowls full with extra sauce)
Dad review: "I won't be visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo any time soon to eat the meal again. It was ok." (funny, he too ate two servings)
Mom review: I would make it again with changes as noted before.



Coming up next: Paraguay!