Skip to content
FriendsPantry

Angolan

Funge

Vegetarian

A smooth, elastic cassava-flour paste beaten in a pot until glossy — Angola's essential staple for scooping up muamba, calulu and other sauces.

Funge is an Angolan side dish, ready in about 12 minutes and made with cassava flour. It serves 4 and is rated intermediate to cook.

Start cooking
Plate of white cassava funge with chicken stew, greens and plantain
Photo: Rui Gabriel Correia / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-3.0
Prep
2 min
Cook
10 min
Total
12 min
Serves
4
Level
Intermediate
Calories
269

Ingredients

4 servings

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Bring the water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot.

  2. Step 2

    Lower the heat and rain in the cassava flour (opens in a new tab) while stirring constantly with a strong wooden spoon (a 'pau de funge').

    • 2 min
    • medium-low heat

  3. Step 3

    Beat vigorously, folding and pressing the paste against the side of the pot, until it turns smooth, translucent, stretchy and comes away from the pot.

    • 5 min
    • low heat

    Wet the spoon now and then so the paste does not stick to it.

  4. Step 4

    Shape into a mound with a wet bowl and serve immediately.

    • 1 min
    A finished dish being plated
    How it looks · Photo: Willians Huerta on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Angola · Well documentedNorthern Angola favours cassava funge; the south often uses maize (funge de milho / pirão).More food from Angola
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Side dishes · Porridge & cereals
Cooking method
Boiled
Taste
mild, sour
Diet
Vegan · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegan · Plant-based · Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Lacto-vegetarian · Ovo-vegetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Low-fat · Low-sodium · DASH-style
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Everyday · Budget-friendly
Cook more with
Cassava flour
Techniques
Boiling

Allergens

None of the 14 major allergens appear in the listed ingredients.

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

269 kcal per serving

Estimated

1 serving ≈ 300 g · recipe makes 4

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 0%
  • Carbohydrate 100%
  • Fat 0%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy269 kcal90 kcal
Protein0.1 g0 g
Carbohydrate66.5 g22.2 g
Net carbohydrate65.8 g21.9 g
Sugars2.5 g0.8 g
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre0.7 g0.2 g
Fat0 g0 g
Saturated fat0 g0 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol0 mg0 mg
Sodium5 mg2 mg
Salt equivalent0 g0 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
8 mg
Calcium
38 mg
Iron
1.2 mg
Magnesium
5 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
0 µg
Vitamin C
0 mg
Vitamin D
0 µg
Vitamin B12
0 µg
Folate (DFE)
3 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Cassava flour: Dry pearl tapioca (FDC 169717) used as a stand-in; cassava flour is the whole dried root so it has a little more fibre, but energy and carbohydrate are very close.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Keep a kettle of hot water handy: if the funge is too stiff, add a splash and keep beating.

Common mistakes

  • Adding the flour too fast to water that is not boiling — it goes lumpy.

Serve with

  • Serve with muamba de galinha, calulu, or grilled fish with a tomato and onion sauce.

Storage

  • Best eaten freshly made.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Grouped by each ingredient’s role in the dish. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in step 2

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

You might also like