Poulet a la Moambe

Ingredients

• 1.4 kg chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
• 400 g tin palm nut concentrate, sold as moambe or sauce graine
• 3 tbsp red palm oil
• 2 onions, one finely chopped and one sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 scotch bonnet chilli, left whole
• 600 ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 200 g spinach, roughly chopped, optional
• Juice of 1 lemon

Before you cook

• Joint the chicken and pat the pieces thoroughly dry.
• Rub the chicken all over with the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of the salt and the black pepper.
• Leave the seasoned chicken to sit for 20 minutes.
• Chop one onion, slice the other, crush the garlic and chop the tomatoes.

Steps

1. Heat the palm oil in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat until it loosens and turns bright orange.
2. Brown the chicken pieces in two batches, about 4 minutes a side, until the skin is deep gold.
3. Lift the chicken onto a plate and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.
4. Add both onions to the pot and fry for 8 minutes, until softened and browning at the edges.
5. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
6. Add the tomatoes and tomato purée and cook for 8 minutes, crushing them down, until the mixture darkens and thickens.
7. Spoon in the palm nut concentrate and stir until it loosens into the sofrito.
8. Pour in the stock and stir until the sauce is smooth and the colour of terracotta.
9. Return the chicken and any resting juices to the pot and tuck in the bay leaf and the whole scotch bonnet.
10. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat low and cook uncovered for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
11. Check the sauce, which should now be thick enough to coat the chicken and showing beads of orange oil on the surface.
12. Stir in the spinach, if using, and cook for 4 minutes until wilted.
13. Season with the remaining salt, remove the chilli and the bay leaf, and serve with rice or cassava.
14. Warn anyone at the table that squashing the chilli into their own portion is the traditional move.