Banga Soup
Overview
Banga soup is made from palm fruit, not palm oil, but the pulp extracted from boiled palm nuts, which gives a soup with a completely different weight and flavour from anything oil alone produces. It belongs to the Niger Delta, and particularly to the Urhobo, though it is cooked across southern Nigeria under several names. Ofe akwu is the Igbo version, and while the base is the same the treatment differs, ofe akwu is usually served with rice, while banga is a soup for swallow. Oghwo amiedi and izuwo ibiedi are Urhobo and Isoko names for it. The same palm fruit base appears well beyond Nigeria. In Ghana it becomes abenkwan, palm nut soup; in Cameroon, mbanga soup. It is one of the clearest examples of a single West African technique carrying across borders and taking a different name in each place. What makes banga specifically banga is the spice set. Beletientien, oburunbebe stick, aidan fruit and the Delta spice blends give it an aromatic, slightly resinous character that is quite unlike any other Nigerian soup. The oburunbebe stick in particular is stirred through the pot and left in it. Fresh fish is the classic protein, catfish above all, though assorted meat and dried fish are equally common.
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.
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.