Here is the best recipe for Banga soup that you must read. Welcome to Chefsbase, on this page, I will be sharing some of the tips you need while setting out to prepare this soup.
Banga Soup, also called Palm Nut Soup or Ofe Akwu, is one of my favourite Nigerian soups and has a pleasant, nutty flavour. The delightful soup will leave you licking your fingers!
What is Banga Soup?
Banga soup is made using palm fruit extract or palm fruit concentrate. It is sometimes known as palm nut soup.
Palm nut (also known as palm kernel) is the fruit of the oil palm tree native to West and Central Africa and some Asian countries. It lends a delightfully nutty and ethnic flavour to this soup!
Palm nut soup is a staple dish eaten in various West African countries. In Nigeria, it is known as Banga soup in the Niger Delta region and Ofe Akwu among the Igbos. It is called Mbanga soup in Cameroon, Abenkwan in Ghana, and Moambe in Congo.
The traditional way of making Nigerian Banga soup is quite involved and takes some time to prepare. Growing up, I would wait impatiently while my mum made Banga soup because it seemed to take forever.
Thankfully there is an easier and quicker way to make this soup using store-bought concentrate. I will include both methods of making palm nut soup just in case you can’t get the palm nut concentrate where you live.
Equipment Used in Cooking the Soup
For this banga soup recipe, you will need a clean pot, a wooden spoon, and knives to prepare your seafood and ingredients.
Ingredients Used in Cooking Banga Soup
1. Palm-nut Concentrate
There are various brands of palm nut concentrate on the market, but some of them have been mixed with other ingredients. I like to use Trofai Palm Nut concentrate because it’s in its pure form, and the carbs are relatively low.
2. Fresh Catfish and Shrimp
Banga soup is traditionally made with seafood like fresh fish and shrimp. I grew up eating Banga soup with periwinkles, which was always so amazing. I have no idea where to buy periwinkles where I live, but shrimps make an excellent substitute.
3. Spices
Bouillon powder (Maggi cubes), cayenne pepper, ground crayfish, Banga spice, and salt. Banga spice gives this soup its unique, finger-licking taste and flavour.
It is made from a blend of a few unique traditional spices, like oburunbebe stick, beletete, aidan fruit, and chilli pepper. I usually get banga spice from an African store, but you can also get it from Amazon.
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