BANGA!!! the banger

I did make Banga soup for the first time EVER and if I can say so myself, it was DELICIOUS yes mouth watering, saliva inducing, very tasty, toothsome, palatable, yummy, enjoyable, 'oolalacious', and very much fit for kings and queens who are reading this.

If you don't know Banga soup and you have stepped foot on the Nigerian soil, see? You are a learner. For those in the diaspora, you'll love it when you do taste it. I promise.

Now Read, Learn and cook baby *whistling

Banga known by those of the south eastern part of Nigeria as *Ofe Akwu is a soup/stew made from palm fruit. I understand now that Ofe means soup/stew while Akwu means palm fruit hence the name merge Ofe Akwu that is Palm fruit soup.

Tip: Palm fruit oil extracted for Banga contains less saturated fat than palm oils.

I will try as much as possible to give detailed information in a bid to make up for not having written for so long. BTW, Happy New Month darlings. XOXO

So! You will need apart from your pot and cooker;
Palm fruits (reasonable amount)
Beef, stock fish(panla/okporoko), cow leg/ hide, etc
Ugwu and scent leaves
Crayfish, scotch bonnet, onions, Cameroon pepper
Ogiri okpei (locust beans)
Salt and stock cubes (to taste)
Mortar, pestle and sieve

Once all these are in your kitchen, it's time to get busy

1a. Extract the oil from the nuts; wash the palm fruits very well and place in pot filling it with water and place on medium/high heat.

b. Cook till palm fruits are soft that the flesh is easily pierced. Sieve out hot water and transfer to mortar to pound immediately.
c. Add water and sieve carefully making sure to use water sparingly so as to have a consistency that's thick bearing in mind that stock from beef etal still awaits for later use.

if properly extracted, the pulp should look like this.
photo by all nigerian recipe.

2. I really hope that you know to boil the beef, stock fish etal while boiling the nuts unless you have just one heat source. If not, sharply register that.

3. While all that is boiling, wash mortar and pestle and introduce onions, crayfish, cameroon pepper, scotch bonnet , locust beans (ogiri okpei)  and pound away till you get a rough consistency
                                               OR
pour all in a blender and use the pulse button to get a rough blend.

4. Wash and cut the ugwu and scent leaves to satisfaction and keep aside. For those in the diaspora, pumpkin leaves will come in handy here.

WELL DONE!!! Now to the saliva inducing part of this toothsome delicacy.

a. Boil the palm fruit extract on high heat till it thickens
b. Pour in the boiled beef, cow leg/hide, stock fish into the boiling palm fruit extract.

this is what we call #sokutuyo where I'm from.

c. Add the blended/ pounded crayfish etal into the pot as well as the leaves.
Note: if the soup is too thick, add stock at this stage.
d. Add salt and stock cubes to taste if not satisfied even after adding stock.
e. Notice the aroma? loving it? call me to say THANK YOU! and come on here to leave comments. LOL
f. Let simmer for a few minutes paying attention to the palmoil formation atop the soup.
g. BANGA SOUP IS READY.

My friend had hers with white rice but as a yoruba girl on point, rice wasn't as deserving so yours truly did justice to it with ...

wait for it ....

this is the IT. 

POUNDED YAM.

I hope you enjoyed this and will try it out soonest. Do drop comments. Thank you.