Banga Soup
Overview
Banga soup is a Niger Delta soup made from palm fruit. To make banga soup, you cook palm nut extract with meat stock until the oil rises to the top. Then you add banga spice, crayfish, dried fish, the meat and the oburunbebe stick, stir in crushed beletientien leaves and simmer until it's as thick as you like. Banga isn't made with palm oil but with the pulp of boiled palm nuts, which carries fibre, water and oil together and gives a weight that oil alone can't. A tin of palm nut concentrate does the same job and saves you the pounding. It's cooked across the Niger Delta by the Urhobo, Isoko, Itsekiri and Ijaw. The Isoko call it izuwo ibiedi and the Itsekiri obieyen, and the Urhobo name is written ame edi or oghwo amiedi. The same palm fruit base shows up in ofe akwu among the Igbo, in palm nut soup in Ghana and in mbanga soup in Cameroon, where it's often served with kwacoco. Ofe akwu is a different dish, a stew usually eaten with rice, so it isn't another name for banga. Banga gets its taste from the spice set. Beletientien, aidan fruit, the oburunbebe stick and the Delta spice blends give it a fragrant, slightly resinous smell. Fresh catfish is a common choice of fish, and starch, the Delta cassava swallow, is its usual partner.
AFN Heritage Note
Banga soup is documented among the Urhobo of Nigeria's Niger Delta, where it is also known as oghwo amiedi. The same palm fruit base underpins ofe akwu among the Igbo, abenkwan in Ghana and mbanga soup in Cameroon, marking a shared West African technique across several national cuisines.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Rinse the meat, add the diced onions, Cameroon pepper, seasoning powder, and salt. Stir and leave to cook till the meat becomes tender.
- 2
Add the stockfish and cook for another 10 minutes.
- 3
Remove from the meat, stockfish, and meat sock from the pot and set aside.
- 4
Pour the palm nut concentrate inside the same pot. Dilute with some water and leftover meat stock from the boiled meat. Cover and leave to cook until the oil begins to float on top of the soup.
- 5
Meanwhile, blend the scotch bonnet pepper and the remaining half onion and add to the palm nut.
- 6
Add the Banga spice, smoked fish, meat, seasoning powder, salt, crayfish, and Banga stick. Cover and leave to cook for another 10 minutes.
- 7
Stir in and bitter leaves. Leave to simmer till thickened to your taste.
- 8
Serve hot with starch, pounded yam, semolina, garri or fufu
Africook’s Notes
- Use palm fruit pulp, not palm oil. Tinned banga sauce or fresh palm nut extract are both fine, palm oil alone will not make this soup.
- Boil the palm nuts until genuinely soft before pounding, or the pulp will not separate from the fibre.
- The oburunbebe stick goes in whole and stays in while it simmers. It is stirred with, not eaten.
- Do not cover it tightly at the start. Banga benefits from reducing, and a lid keeps it thin.
- Add fresh fish late. Catfish breaks up quickly and is better added once the base has finished reducing.
Questions cooks ask
What are banga soup spices?
The core set is a banga spice blend, crushed beletientien leaves, aidan fruit and the oburunbebe stick, which goes into the pot whole. Rohojie is another spice often named in the mix. If you can't find beletientien, scent leaf or bitter leaf can stand in, and our recipe uses dried bitter leaves.
What are the ingredients for banga soup?
Our recipe uses 1 can of palm nut extract, 1.5 lb of beef, 3 medium stockfish, 2 medium dried fish, 1 tablespoon of banga spice, 1 to 2 tablespoons of crushed beletientien (or dried bitter leaves) and 1 oburunbebe stick. The rest is 1 teaspoon of Cameroon pepper, 2 scotch bonnets, 1 tablespoon of ground crayfish, a large onion, 4 to 6 cups of water or stock, seasoning and salt.
Can I use palm oil instead of palm fruit?
No, and it's the most common mistake people make with banga. Palm oil is just the pressed oil, while banga is made from the pulp of boiled palm fruit, which holds the fibre, water and solids as well as the oil. Cook it with palm oil and you get a red, oily soup with none of the body or flavour. Tinned palm nut concentrate is a good substitute for fresh fruit and is widely sold.
Can I make banga soup with canned palm nut extract?
Yes, and this recipe does. Tinned palm nut concentrate, sold in African grocers, gives you the same base as fresh palm fruit without the boiling and pounding. Just thin it with some water and the stock from your meat before it goes on to cook.
What is oburunbebe stick?
It's an aromatic wooden stick used in Delta cooking. It goes into the simmering pot whole and is often used to stir, so its flavour gets into the soup, but nobody eats it. Along with beletientien and aidan fruit, it's a big part of what gives banga its smell, and the soup tastes noticeably plainer without it.
What is banga soup called in Igbo?
The Igbo palm fruit dish is ofe akwu, and some recipe sites even call it Igbo style banga. It starts from the same palm fruit base, but it's more of a stew and is usually eaten with rice, while banga is a soup for starch, eba or pounded yam with its own Delta spice set.
Reviews
3 reviews
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My buddy from Lagos gave me an oburunbebe stick last month so I had to give this a bash. Used chuck beef leftover from Saturday's braai instead of stockfish since my wife isn't big on dried fish smells in the kitchen. That canned palm nut extract takes a good while to boil down till the oil separates, but man, it came out baie lekker and rich.
Reminds me so much of how my grandmother makes abenkwan in Ghana, though of course nigerians add that banga spice blend which gives it a totally different aroma. Couldn't find Cameroon pepper at the African store on 161st in the Bronx so I just used extra scotch bonnets. Turned out a bit too spicy for my kids because of that, but very tasty.
the key is really that oil rising to the top, if you don't let the palm nut concentrate cook well it will taste raw sha. i added crushed dried bitter leaf because finding proper fresh obeletientien in ibadan market today was a headache. e sweet well well with yellow starch o.