Banga soup is a rich and tasty soup native to the South-south area of Nigeria. It is also known as oghwo amiedi in Urhobo language and izuwo ibiedi in Isoko. It is a type of soup made from palm fruit oil extract. Interestingly, it is quite different from the red palm oil used in cooking Nigerian food recipes. Palm oil is pure oil extracted from the palm fruit pulp at high temperatures while the palm fruit oil extract used for the Banga soup is extracted at a very low temperature and is a mixture of oil and water. Palm fruit oil extracted for Banga soup contains less saturated fat than palm oil.
INGREDIENTS
Palm fruits, beef, dry fish, scent leaf, onions, ground crayfish, stock cubes, chilli powder, locust bean and salt.
BEFORE PREPARATION
Extract the palm fruit concentrate. Parboil the beef and the dry fish with onions and stock cubes. Wash and cut the scent leaves into tiny pieces. Cut the onions, pound the crayfish, locust bean and pepper in a mortar.
COOKING DIRECTIONS
Set the pot of palm fruit extract on the stove and start cooking at high heat. Leave to boil till you notice some red oil on the surface of the Banga stew. Cook till the banga soup has thickened. Add the beef, dry fish and its stock. Also add the onions, crayfish and pepper and then leave to boil very well. Then add the scent leaves or pumpkin leaves and salt to taste. Leave to simmer for about 2 minutes. Thereafter, the banga soup is done and ready.
The soup can be eaten with pounded yam, semolina, garri and cassava fufu et cetera.
