Dovi
“Zimbabwe's Sunday peanut-chicken stew — bone-in chicken slow-simmered with onion, tomato, garlic, and a generous spoonful of peanut butter (dovi) until the sauce thickens into a deep-amber, nutty-rich gravy. Served over sadza with steamed pumpkin leaves on the side. The festive Sunday family meal across Mashonaland.”
Where it comes from
Dovi is the Shona word for peanut/groundnut paste, and by extension the family of stews built around it. Peanuts were introduced to Africa from the Americas via Portuguese trade in the 16th century, but quickly became central to the Bantu food system across what is now Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, and beyond. Dovi can be made with chicken, beef, goat, or vegetables — the chicken version is the most-celebrated Sunday dish, where the whole family gathers and the host prepares one bird per 3-4 people. Every Shona grandmother has her version, with slight differences in spice and consistency.
On the plate
Lift a piece of dovi chicken from the pot — bone-in, mahogany-glazed, swimming in a deep-amber peanut gravy flecked with tomato and onion. First bite: the chicken is tender from the slow simmer, the gravy is thick-nutty-savory, peanut richness coats your tongue, the paprika-curry-tomato base sings underneath. Pinch off some sadza, dip into the dovi gravy, eat with the chicken. The Zimbabwean Sunday meal that defines comfort.
How it works
Peanut butter is added LATE in the cook (after the chicken is mostly done) and slurried first with hot liquid — this prevents the peanut oil from breaking and creating a greasy slick. The natural peanut emulsifies with the rendered chicken fat and tomato pectin, creating the characteristic thick gravy. Cooking the spices in oil (bhuna technique) before adding liquid releases their fat-soluble flavors. The bone-in chicken contributes collagen that enriches the sauce.
Variations
Beef dovi uses cubed chuck and cooks 90 min for tenderness. Goat dovi (Matabeleland) uses bone-in goat shoulder. Vegetarian dovi uses cubed pumpkin and red kidney beans. Spicier dovi adds 2-3 bird's eye chilies — northern Zimbabwe style. Mafata (creamy dovi) uses extra peanut butter for thicker gravy. Modern fusion: chicken dovi over basmati instead of sadza.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
12 steps · Show ↓30 min active · 45 min waiting
How it's made
12 steps · Show ↓- 15 min
Cut a 1.4 kg chicken into 8 bone-in pieces. Season with 1 tsp salt + ½ tsp black pepper.
- 213 min
In a heavy pot, heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil over medium-high. Brown the chicken in batches 3-4 min per side. Remove.
- 39 min
In the same pot, add 2 chopped onions; cook 8 min until soft and golden.
- 42 min
Add 4 minced garlic cloves + 1 tbsp grated ginger; cook 1 min.
- 53 min
Add 1 tbsp tomato paste + 2 tsp paprika + 1 tsp curry powder; cook 2 min.
- 611 min
Add 400 g chopped tomatoes + 1 tsp salt; cook 10 min until thick.
- 72 min
Add 400 ml chicken stock or water; bring to a simmer.
- 826 min
Return the chicken pieces; spoon sauce over. Cover; simmer 25 min.
- 93 min
In a small bowl, whisk 6 generous tbsp natural smooth peanut butter (dovi) with 200 ml of the hot pan liquid to make a smooth peanut slurry.
- 1017 min
Stir the peanut slurry into the pot. Simmer uncovered 15 min, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens to a deep-amber gravy that coats the chicken.
- 111 min
Taste; adjust salt. Add 1 tbsp lemon juice for brightness.
- 123 min
Serve over hot sadza with steamed pumpkin leaves or covo greens on the side.
