Banga Soup or Ofe Akwu is native to the Niger Delta and the South Eastern parts found in Nigeria.
In the Niger Delta areas located in the southern part of Nigeria, Banga soup is commonly eaten with various fufu recipes such as Starch, Pounded Yam, Semolina, Garri and Cassava Fufu. In the South Eastern parts of Nigeria, Banga Soup is referred to as Ofe Akwu where Ofe means Soup / Stew and Akwu means palm fruit and is used mainly as stew for boiled white rice.
The oil extract from the palm fruit used in cooking Banga Soup / Stew is 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. Banga Soup contains less saturated fat than normal palm oilswhen extracted from the palm fruit.
Below are list of ingredients used in making banga soup.
1kg palm fruits or 800g tinned Palm Fruit Concentrate
Beef
Dry fish
Vegetable: scent leave for Ofe Akwu or dried and crushed bitter leaves for Delta-style Banga Soup
2medium onions
2Tbsp ground crayfish
Salt and chilli pepper, to taste
Ogiri Okpei (Iru) (optional)
1- 2 big stock cubes
Steps in preparing Banga soup
Step 1
Extract the oil from the palm fruit
Step 2
Cook the beef and the dry fish with 1 bulb of diced onion and the stock cubes till done.
Step 3
Wash and cut the scent leaves into tiny pieces. The scent leaves give the Banga Stew (Ofe Akwu) its unique aroma and taste. If you are outside Nigeria, this may be hard to find, so you can use pumpkin leaves or any other vegetable in place of scent leaves. If cooking Delta-style Banga Soup for starch, you should either cook this soup without vegetables or use dried and crushed bitter leaves.
Step 4
Cut the remaining bulb of onion. Pound the crayfish, ogiri okpei and pepper in a mortar and set aside. You can also grind them with a dry mill.
Step 5
Set the pot of palm fruit extract on the stove and start cooking at high heat. Leave to boil till you notice come red oil at the surface of the Banga Stew. If you think that the Banga Soup is watery, cook till the soup has thickened to the consistency you like for your stews.
Step 6
Now, add the beef, dry fish and stock, the onions, crayfish and pepper and leave to boil very well.
Step 7
Add the scent leaves or other vegetable and salt to taste. Leave to simmer for about 2 mins. The Banga Soup is done. Serve with white rice or use the Delta-style Banga Soup to eat Starch, Garri, Semo lina, Amala or Pounded Yam.
