Africa

Amiwo: Benin's Red Cornmeal Paste with Chicken Tomato Sauce

Name: Amiwo: Benin's Red Cornmeal Paste with Chicken Tomato Sauce
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Beninese
Ingredients: 260 g Cornmeal; 220 ml Water (for the slurry); 650 ml Red broth; 2 tbsp Red palm oil; 1/2 tsp Salt; 800 g Chicken thighs or drumettes; 1 1/4 tsp Salt; 1/3 tsp Black pepper; 3 cloves Garlic; 15 g Ginger; 1 tbsp Lemon juice; 1 (about 200 g) Onion; 3 (about 350 g) Tomatoes; 1 (about 150 g) Red bell pepper; 1 1/2 tbsp Tomato paste; 1/4 Scotch bonnet or habanero; 3 tbsp Red palm oil; 2 tsp Dried shrimp powder; 500 ml Water; 1 Bouillon cube; 1 Bay leaf

Amiwo, Benin's red cornmeal dish, covered from red palm oil, tomato and chicken sauce to cornmeal substitutes, the temperature for adding the flour, the thickness of the finished paste, storage, adjusting heat, and the West African table that leads to jollof rice and tô.

Published: October 25, 2026Total: 1 hr 20 minLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 8

Season the chicken

8 min (15 min resting)

The seasoning step, rubbing garlic, ginger, salt and pepper into chicken — Pat the chicken dry before seasoning. When the salt settles on the surface, it browns more easily

Pat the chicken dry and rub in 3/4 tsp salt, the black pepper, half the garlic, half the ginger and the lemon juice. For bone-in pieces, work the seasoning between the skin and the meat, and leave at room temperature for 15 minutes. The guide is a surface that looks moist and salt that has settled in rather than feeling gritty. If it will sit for long in summer, return it to the refrigerator.

STEP 22 / 8

Make the red pepper base

7 min

A red pepper base of tomatoes, red bell pepper, onion and chili coarsely blended — Do not make the pepper base too smooth. Fine grains left in give the broth body

Put the tomatoes, red bell pepper, 1/2 onion, Scotch bonnet and the remaining garlic and ginger in a blender. Add 50 ml water and blend until fine grains remain, not a complete juice. If you want less heat, do not add the chili here and adjust at the end with a sauce. Leaving a few grains makes it cling to the cornmeal more easily once reduced.

STEP 33 / 8

Brown the chicken

10 min

Browning chicken in red palm oil so the skin side takes color — Brown the chicken over medium heat. The color on the surface becomes the savory depth of the red sauce later

Put 3 tbsp red palm oil in a heavy pot and warm over medium heat for about 1 minute. When the oil runs thin and its red-orange has brightened a little, add the chicken skin side down and brown for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. The aim is not to cook it through, but to give the surface a deep golden brown. If the oil spatters, drop to medium-low and do not move the meat too much.

STEP 44 / 8

Simmer in the tomato sauce

25 min

Chicken simmering in red tomato sauce and red palm oil — Keep small bubbles over medium-low heat, cooking the chicken through while making the red broth for the amiwo

Take out the chicken, add the remaining onion to the same pot and sauté over medium heat for 4 minutes. When the onion turns translucent, add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, until some of the acidity has gone and the color has deepened. Add the pepper base, 500 ml water, bouillon cube, bay leaf and dried shrimp powder, and return the chicken. When it boils, lower to medium-low and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes with small bubbles rising at the edge of the pot. It is enough when the chicken is cooked through, and for bone-in pieces the pink around the joints has gone.

STEP 55 / 8

Dissolve the cornmeal

5 min

Dissolving cornmeal in cold water to make a smooth slurry — Dissolve part of the flour in cold water first. Getting rid of lumps here keeps it from seizing suddenly in the pot

Put 80 g of the 260 g cornmeal in a bowl and add 220 ml cold water a little at a time, mixing with a whisk. Lumps left behind turn into white grains in the pot, so scrape the bottom and make a smooth slurry. Put the remaining 180 g of flour in another dish and set it where you can grab it at once.

STEP 66 / 8

Add the slurry to the red broth

6 min

Pouring the cornmeal slurry into the red broth as it starts to turn orange — Pour the slurry in thinly. Keep stirring over medium-low heat, until the bottom shows for a moment

Take out the chicken and set aside 650 ml of the sauce in a measuring cup. If short, add hot water; if too thick, strain out a little of the coarse vegetables. Return the red broth to the pot and bring to a gentle bubble over medium-low heat. Pour in the slurry in a thin stream, stirring with a wooden spoon, and heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Move on when the liquid has changed from thin to a soup-like thickness, and the bottom shows for a moment when you move the spoon.

STEP 77 / 8

Add the rest of the flour and stir it up

12 min

Stirring red cornmeal dough with a wooden spoon until it pulls away from the side of the pot — Add the flour in 4 batches over low heat. When the spoon's trail stays and it pulls from the side of the pot, it has the firmness of amiwo

Lower to low heat and add the remaining 180 g cornmeal in 4 batches. Each time, fold from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, and add the next only once the white flour has disappeared into red dough. If it becomes too stiff along the way, add hot water 2 tbsp at a time; if too loose, keep stirring over low heat 2 minutes at a time. The finish is a firmness where the trail of the wooden spoon stays for 2 to 3 seconds and the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the pot. If it seems about to scorch, turn off the heat and keep stirring with the residual heat.

STEP 88 / 8

Shape and serve

6 min

Shaping red amiwo into a dome in a small bowl and plating it with chicken tomato sauce — Packed into a wet bowl and turned out, amiwo makes a neat dome

Wet a small bowl with water and pack in the hot amiwo. Press out the air with the back of a wooden spoon, shape a dome about 10 cm across and turn it out onto a plate. Put the set-aside chicken and sauce beside it, and only for those who want more heat, a few drops of Scotch bonnet-type sauce. Resting for 5 minutes after plating lets the surface settle, so it is easier to cut with a spoon.

0 / 0

Ingredients

1 / 2

The amiwo itself

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Cornmeal	260 g	Fine-ground cornmeal, corn flour, or white cornmeal. Cornstarch will not work
Water (for the slurry)	220 ml	Cold water. Dissolve 80 g of the flour in it first
Red broth	650 ml	Use the sauce the chicken was cooked in. Add hot water if short
Red palm oil	2 tbsp	Add only if the broth lacks aroma
Salt	1/2 tsp	Adjust according to the saltiness of the broth

2 / 2

Chicken tomato sauce

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Chicken thighs or drumettes	800 g	Bone-in gives more richness. 600 g if boneless
Salt	1 1/4 tsp	Divided between seasoning the chicken and the sauce
Black pepper	1/3 tsp	For seasoning the chicken
Garlic	3 cloves	Grated. 2 tsp if from a tube
Ginger	15 g	Grated. 2 tsp if from a tube
Lemon juice	1 tbsp	Tames the gamey smell of the chicken. Lime also works
Onion	1 (about 200 g)	Half goes into the pepper base, half is sautéed
Tomatoes	3 (about 350 g)	Up to 250 g if using canned diced tomatoes
Red bell pepper	1 (about 150 g)	For color and sweetness. A red pepper also works
Tomato paste	1 1/2 tbsp	Ketchup is not recommended because it makes it sweet
Scotch bonnet or habanero	1/4	If you are sensitive to heat, remove the seeds and pith and move the heat to a sauce served at the table
Red palm oil	3 tbsp	The core of the aroma. With rice bran oil it becomes a different dish
Dried shrimp powder	2 tsp	Brings the savory depth of dried seafood used around Benin. If you dislike shellfish, use 1 tsp bonito flake powder
Water	500 ml	For simmering. Along the way, set aside 650 ml of the red broth
Bouillon cube	1	Or 1 tsp additive-free bouillon
Bay leaf	1	Optional, but it settles the aroma of the chicken

0 / 0

The story of amiwo: the moment the red flour pulls away from the pot

When you fry tomato and red palm oil in the kitchen, the first aroma that rises is a little like tropical nuts. Add the cornmeal, and the thin red liquid suddenly turns heavy, and the trail of the wooden spoon begins to stay on the bottom of the pot. Benin's amiwo (Amiwô / Amiwo) is a dish whose pleasure is this moment of stirring it red.

Amiwo is a red staple of French-speaking West Africa, made by stirring cornmeal into a broth colored with tomato, onion, chili and oil. In French recipes it is sometimes described as pâte rouge, and it is eaten with a sauce of meat or chicken, or a fish stew. It looks close to Tanzanian ugali or Burkina Faso's tô, but the flavor is redder, with the acidity of tomato and the aroma of palm oil coming first.

The thing that causes hesitation when cooking it is the flour. Use corn flour made by finely grinding the corn itself, fine-ground cornmeal, or white cornmeal, not cornstarch. Rather than hunting for the exact local flour, you are more likely to succeed by keeping to three things first: the kind of flour, the amount of water, and the thickness of the finished paste.

If Nigeria's asaro (in Japanese) is a dish of yam broken down in red palm oil, amiwo is a dish of flour stirred up in a red broth. The red of tomato like jollof rice, the savory depth of seafood like egusi soup (in Japanese), and a "staple that receives the sauce" like tô or fufu all meet on one plate.

The outline of amiwo worth keeping

What to keep is stirring cornmeal into a red broth, using the color and aroma of tomato and red palm oil, and eating it with a rich chicken or fish sauce. Unlike a staple made by simply stirring flour into hot water, amiwo has flavor on the staple side too.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Cornmeal, tomatoes, red palm oil, chicken, chilies and dried shrimp powder laid out in a kitchen for amiwo — The shopping questions for amiwo are the flour, the red palm oil and the dried shrimp powder. Ordinary vegetables and chicken are easy to find anywhere

In this recipe, the amiwo itself and the chicken tomato sauce are connected by the aroma of the same pot. Part of the red sauce the chicken was cooked in is used as the liquid for stirring the amiwo, and the rest is spooned over at the table.

Allergens and heat

This recipe uses chicken and dried shrimp powder. If you have a shellfish allergy, do not use the dried shrimp powder; substitute bonito flake powder or a little kombu stock. Scotch bonnet and habanero are intensely hot even in small amounts, so for a first try it is safer to use 1/4 or add it at the table.

There are no shopping notes for the chicken, tomatoes, onion and lemon you can buy anywhere. What is worth looking for with amiwo is the red palm oil that is the core of the aroma, the dried shrimp powder that adds a seafood savoriness, and a Scotch bonnet-type hot sauce that lets you adjust the heat at the plate.

Priority	What to buy	Role in the dish	What to accept if you substitute
Top	Red palm oil	The red color, the nutty aroma, the oil that makes a flour dish West African	Rice bran oil and paprika give only the color. Treat the aroma as a different thing
High	Dried shrimp powder	Adds the savory depth of dried seafood to the chicken sauce	Bonito flake powder leans Japanese, so use a small amount
High	Scotch bonnet-type sauce	Adds aroma at the table without making the whole pot hot	Habanero sauce is fine. For strongly acidic products, start with a few drops

Red palm oil and dried shrimp powder do not end with amiwo. They can go into other red stews such as asaro (in Japanese), egusi soup (in Japanese) and poulet moambé. A Scotch bonnet-type sauce goes not into the pot but a few drops at a time on the plate, which makes it easy to adjust heat for each family member.

Method

Amiwo is quick once the flour goes in. Make the chicken sauce first, set aside the broth, and measure the flour before you start stirring. If you go looking for flour or water midway through stirring, lumps form easily.

Ingredients to hold on to, and substitutes

The side of the pot with red amiwo stirred to the point where the spoon's trail stays — Amiwo is not a watery porridge; stir until the wooden spoon's trail stays for a few seconds

Cornmeal is not cornstarch

The easiest mistake with amiwo is the flour. Labels such as "corn flour" can cover both a fine cornmeal for baking and cornstarch, which is only starch, and the two are sometimes shelved together. With cornstarch you get a translucent paste, with neither the aroma nor the texture of corn.

What suits it is fine-ground cornmeal, white cornmeal, or pre-cooked corn flour such as Harina P.A.N. Coarse polenta flour also works, but the grain remains in the finished dish. In that case, extend the slurry time to 10 minutes and stir for 3 minutes longer over low heat after adding the flour, and it is easier to eat.

Red palm oil is the pillar of aroma

Red palm oil decides the color and aroma of amiwo. Mixing paprika into a neutral oil brings it close in looks, but not the nutty aroma or the weight. 3 tbsp is enough for a first try. Too much and the oil separates on the plate, and the heaviness of oil comes before the sweetness of the flour.

On the other hand, leave the red palm oil out entirely and the amiwo character weakens. Choose one stored in a cool, dark place after opening, not an old oil with a strong smell. If there is an oxidized smell, do not use it.

Chicken or fish

Around Benin, combinations of chicken, fish and tomato sauce are common. In a home kitchen, chicken is easier to handle and gives a more stable broth. To make it with fish, salt fillets of white fish and leave for 10 minutes, brown them in oil, and return them to the sauce. When using a fish with many bones, always strain the broth before setting some aside for the amiwo.

If you like dishes that carry the fragrance of fish into rice or flour, like Senegalese thieboudienne, the fish version also suits well. Conversely, if it is your first time and you are serving the family, the chicken version makes it easier to adjust the heat and the seafood aroma.

Plating closer to the local way

A table with amiwo, red chicken sauce and hot sauce arranged so a family can share — Amiwo is eaten as a red cornmeal staple together with a rich sauce. Adding heat at the plate makes it easy to adjust

Amiwo is not a dish that is complete on its own. The red cornmeal dough is a base that receives a rich sauce. At the table, put amiwo on one half of the plate and chicken sauce on the other, and cut it off in small pieces with a spoon as you eat.

If you add greens, lightly boiled leafy greens, cabbage with lemon squeezed on, or thin slices of cucumber go well. Because both the amiwo and the sauce are red and heavy, a little green vegetable or acidity helps you finish it.

Compared with other staples, Ghanaian fufu is whiter and chewier, the one that scoops up soup. Tô has a strong grain flavor and is only complete when paired with a sauce. Amiwo sits between them, and since tomato and oil flavor go into the staple side too, it suits a rich chicken or fish sauce better than a pale soup.

Where it tends to go wrong

White lumps remain

If you put flour straight into the red broth, only the outside sets and a white core remains. Dissolve 80 g of flour in cold water first to make a slurry before adding it. Do not put the rest of the flour in all at once either; add it in 4 batches. If lumps form, lower the heat and press them against the side of the pot with the wooden spoon to crush them.

Watery, will not stand on the plate

There is too much broth. Stir over low heat 2 minutes at a time and check whether the spoon's trail stays. If adding more flour, add 1 tbsp at a time. Too much brings back a floury taste. Resting 5 minutes before plating lets the flour absorb liquid and firm up a little.

The bottom scorches

The cause is high heat after the flour goes in. Medium-low heat when adding the slurry, and low heat after adding the flour, is the rule. Stir scraping the bottom of the pot, and when it gets heavy you can turn off the heat and keep stirring with the residual heat. A heavy pot or a deep frying pan scorches less than a thin aluminum pot.

The tomato acidity is strong

If the tomato paste is cooked too briefly, acidity remains. After sautéing the onion, cook the tomato paste in the oil for about 2 minutes, until the color deepens and the aroma turns sweet. If using canned diced tomatoes, they carry more water, so reduce the sauce 5 minutes longer.

Storage and making ahead

Amiwo is smoothest freshly made, but it can be refrigerated. After the heat is off, wrap in single servings in plastic wrap, place in a container, and eat within 2 days in the refrigerator. The chicken sauce goes in a separate container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

To reheat, sprinkle 2 tsp water over the amiwo, cover with plastic wrap and heat in a 600 W microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds. If the center is still cold, add 30 seconds at a time. To reheat in a pot, stir it up again over low heat, adding 2 tbsp water. Reheating over high heat dries only the surface and makes it crack.

You can freeze it too, but it is a little crumbly after thawing. To freeze, do not make a dome; flatten it thin and put it in a freezer bag, and use within 2 weeks. After thawing, pour a generous amount of chicken sauce over it so the change in texture is less noticeable.

Frequently asked questions

Is amiwo the same as ugali?

Both look like staples made by stirring cornmeal, but amiwo is stirred with a red broth made with tomato and red palm oil. Ugali is basically made with hot water and flour and receives a sauce as a plain staple.

Can I make it with cornstarch?

No. Cornstarch is the starch of corn, and lacks the grain aroma and graininess amiwo needs. Use fine-ground cornmeal, corn flour or white cornmeal.

What if I have no red palm oil?

Adding 1 tsp paprika to 3 tbsp rice bran oil brings the color closer. But the aroma changes a great deal. In that case, enjoy it as an amiwo-style tomato cornmeal porridge, and make it again when you get red palm oil.

Can I make it without heat?

Yes. Do not put Scotch bonnet or habanero in the pot, and make it with just red bell pepper and black pepper. Anyone who wants heat can add a few drops of Scotch bonnet-type sauce at the plate. Not making the whole pot hot makes it easier for the family to eat.

Can I make it with fish instead of chicken?

Yes. Season white fish with salt, garlic and lemon for 10 minutes, brown both sides in oil and return it to the sauce. With a fish with many bones, always strain the broth before setting some aside for the amiwo. The fish version has an aroma closer to thieboudienne.

How is it good the next day?

Cut the amiwo into thin slices and pan-fry them over medium-low heat for 2 minutes on each side, and the outside turns slightly toasty. Warm the leftover chicken sauce and pour it over, and it becomes a different way of eating from the freshly made dish, something like grilled rice cake.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Amiwo" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiwo
Cuisine228, "Amiwo" https://cuisine228.com/amiwo/
Miam Miam Benin, "Amiwo" https://miammiambenin.com/amiwo/
Queen Mafa, "Chicken Amiwo" https://queenmafa.net/chicken-amiwo/
World Tourism Organization, "A tour of African gastronomy" https://www.uhtti.ac.ug/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A-tour-of-African-Gastronomy-2020.pdf