Ofe Akwu

Ofe akwu is the Igbo palm nut soup, built on the extract pressed from palm fruit and cooked with goat meat, ponmo, stockfish and smoked fish. Akwu is the Igbo word for palm nut fruits, and ofe means soup, so the name is entirely descriptive. It belongs to a family of palm fruit soups made across southern Nigeria under different names by different groups. Banga soup is the Niger Delta version, Urhobo and Isoko in origin; abak atama is the Akwa Ibom one; obe eyin is Yoruba. They share the same base and differ in the herbs and spices each tradition uses, which is what makes them distinct dishes rather than one dish with several names. Palm fruit extract is not palm oil, and the distinction matters. The extract is the whole pulp of the cooked fruit suspended in water, thick and orange; palm oil is the fat pressed from the same fruit. Using palm oil in place of the extract gives a thin, oily soup instead of a rich one. Ofe akwu is served over white rice as often as with fufu, which distinguishes it from most Nigerian soups, and scent leaf goes in at the end.