Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew)
An Angolan chicken stew built on ground peanuts, palm oil, tomato and okra, simmered until nutty and rich and ladled over funge or rice.
Angolan · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 55 min
~746 cal · 71g protein · 18g carbs · 43g fat · 5g fiber · 8g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Moamba de ginguba is one of Angola's best-loved home stews, chicken simmered in a thick sauce of ground peanuts, tomato and red until the whole pot turns nutty, glossy and deeply savoury. 'Ginguba' is the Kimbundu word for groundnut, and it is the ingredient that gives the dish its name and its character.
It is a cousin of the more famous muamba de galinha, which leans on palm butter, but here the peanut is the whole point: the sauce is thickened and enriched with it rather than with palm pulp. is stirred in near the end to lend body, and a pinch of gindungo, Angola's fierce little piri-piri chilli, brings the heat that Angolan cooks love.
Like most Angolan mains it is served over funge, the smooth maize or porridge that anchors the meal, or over plain rice to catch every drop of the sauce. It is unhurried, generous food, the kind cooked for a family Sunday in Luanda.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
8 (about 2 lbs) bone-in chicken thighs, cut in pieces
2 tbsp red
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 ripe tomatoes, grated
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
10 pods , trimmed and halved
1 piri-piri (bird’s eye) chili, minced
1 lemon, juiced
2 cups chicken or water
a handful cilantro, chopped
for 4 cooked funge or white rice, to serve
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Season the chicken (or mushrooms and chickpeas) with salt, the lemon juice and half the garlic, and let it sit while you prep the aromatics.
2
Warm the palm oil in a heavy pot and brown the chicken pieces on both sides, then lift them out and set aside.
✎ Chef’s note
Give the pieces room and let them take on real colour before turning. That browning is the backbone of the sauce.
3
Soften the onion in the same pot, then add the ginger, remaining garlic and grated tomato and cook until the mixture turns thick and brick red, about 8 minutes.
4
Whisk the peanut butter smooth with the stock, pour it in, and return the chicken with any juices. Bring to a gentle simmer.
✎ Chef’s note
Loosen the peanut butter with the warm stock before it goes in, or it clumps and catches on the bottom of the pot.
5
Cover and simmer 25 minutes, then add the okra and chili and cook uncovered 12 to 15 minutes more, until the okra is tender and the sauce coats a spoon.
6
Scatter over the cilantro and serve hot over funge or rice.
Luanda home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Luanda. Luanda cooks muamba de galinha, chicken simmered gold with palm oil, okra, and squash, served over funge, a smooth cassava porridge. Portuguese contact left bread, sausage, and salt cod alongside deeply Angolan uses of palm, peanut, and cassava leaf.
🗺️
Angola. Calulu, dried fish or meat stewed with okra, sweet potato leaves and palm oil, is shared with Sao Tome and Principe rather than being Angolan alone. Gindungo, the chilli condiment, does the seasoning at the table. Four centuries of Portuguese presence left bread, olive oil and a taste for salt cod alongside all of it.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Angola
Muamba de GalinhaAngola’s national dish: chicken stewed golden in palm oil with okra, garlic, and chili until the sauce turns silk.
Pão de MilhoAngolan corn bread: a moist, golden cornmeal loaf, faintly sweet and rich with coconut, sliced for breakfast with butter and coffee.
MufeteGrilled fish with beans, cassava, and sweet potato under a tangy palm-oil and onion sauce, an Angolan coastal feast.
Browse all Angola recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Angola meal
KissanguaDrink
Cocada AmarelaDessert
MufeteLunch
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew)?
An Angolan chicken stew built on ground peanuts, palm oil, tomato and okra, simmered until nutty and rich and ladled over funge or rice.
Where does Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew) come from?
Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew) is a Angolan dish from Luanda, Angola.
Can Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew) take to make?
About 75 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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