Mwamba (peanut sauce)
A thick, nutty paste made from nothing more than roasted peanuts and water, slow-cooked until the water disappears. Known as mwamba (or muamba), it is the base of moambe-style stews across Central Africa, stirred into fish, shrimp, and chicken dishes or served as a rich sauce on its own.
Instructions
If the peanuts still have their papery skins, rub them in a clean kitchen towel to loosen and remove as many as you can. Put the peanuts in a heavy pot with the water, so they are just covered.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring. Lower the heat and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring often and almost constantly toward the end so the peanuts do not stick or scorch, until nearly all the water has evaporated.
Mash the peanuts with a fork for a rustic, textured paste, or blend them until smooth. Taste and add a pinch of salt if you like.
To use it as a sauce, whisk in warm water, a few tablespoons at a time, until it reaches the consistency you want. Cooks use it thick as a spread or thin as a pouring sauce.
Notes
The paste thickens and darkens as it sits, so thin it with warm water or stock just before using.
It keeps in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days, and it can be frozen in small portions.
Do not walk away from the pot in the last 10 minutes, since peanuts scorch quickly once the water is almost gone.
For a shortcut, whisk about 3/4 cup of natural, unsweetened peanut butter into 2 cups of hot water or broth, though the slow-cooked version has a deeper, toasted flavor.
Stir the paste into stews at the end of cooking, spoon it over grilled fish or boiled vegetables, or serve it alongside rice, fufu, or cassava. It is the sauce behind our seafood moambe.
Variations
For a fuller moambe-style sauce, cook a chopped onion, a few cloves of garlic, a tomato, and a hot chili pepper in red palm oil until soft, then stir in the paste and enough water to make a sauce.
Simmer it with chicken, fish, or shrimp. A splash of lemon juice brightens the richness, and a spoonful of pili-pili sauce adds heat at the table.
Cooks who use palm nut cream as their moambe base often add a few spoonfuls of peanut paste as well, for a nuttier, creamier sauce.
Source
Mwamba, also spelled moambe, muamba, and moamba, is a name used across Central Africa for sauces made from either palm fruit pulp or peanuts, depending on the region and the cook. In the Republic of the Congo, the peanut version of the famous chicken moambe is known as muamba nsusu, and in Angola, moamba de ginguba uses peanut sauce in place of palm paste.