How To Prepare Palm Nut/ Banga Soup, The Nourishing And Anti-Ageing Dish

Palm Nut Soup is a West African soup made from heavily pounding the palm nut fruit to extract the palm nut fruit pulp simmered in assorted meat, spices and bitter leaf or spinach. The dish, has, however, become a relatively easy soup to make because the palm nut fruit has been extracted already and put in a can. All you need is get the concentrated palm nut canned pulp and prepare your palm Nut Soup stresslessly. Well, if you can’t then, you have to do it the extra way but I trust you will love the process and the aftermath.
In most parts of West African, palm nut soup is served with rice or any starchy side but in Cameroon it would be a crime to serve this dish without kwacoco (cocoyam pudding) – it’s time honored mate. Oh, and as expected, it is called different names in different parts of Africa – Abenkwan in Ghana, Banga soup (Niger Delta), Ofe Akwu (Igbo), Oghwo Amiedi (Urhobo), or Izuwo Ibiedi (Isoko), all in Nigeria and of course Palm Nut Soup in English, ☺.
With a sufficient amount of Vitamin E, rarely found tocotrienols and being loaded with anti-oxidants, palm kernel oil provides amazing anti-ageing benefits. It prevents the occurrence of wrinkles and fine lines and at such, is wise to include palm kernel oil in your diet as it will keep the skin healthy and youthful.
RECIPE 1
Ingredients

Palm nuts, Fish(Herrings, Salmon, Tuna), Meat (Goat, chicken or cow) optional, Onions, Tomatoes, Garden eggs(optional), Pepper, Garlic, Ginger and Vegetable – Chopped Scent leaves or Spinach (optional)How To Prepare Palm Nut/ Banga Soup, The Nourishing And Anti-Ageing Dish
Preparation
Wash the palm nuts and boil until well cooked. Pound the cooked nuts in mortar to get the palm paste, then extract some palm juice out of the palm chaff by squeezing. Sieve to remove the residue and set all aside. Wash the scent leaves/spinach if you are using any and set aside too.
Wash the fishes (you can break the heads off or leave them) and put them into a pot. Wash and boil the meats, tomatoes, pepper, garlic (peel and wash), garden eggs(optional) and onions, and put them all into the pot too. If you prefer powdered pepper or garlic, add some into the contents in the pot, and then salt. Pour in about half a glass of water and put all on fire to steam.How To Prepare Palm Nut/ Banga Soup, The Nourishing And Anti-Ageing Dish
Boil some amount of water in another pot and when hot enough, pour some into the palm paste. Stir well until paste becomes juice, then add the extracted palm juice to the fishes, meats and other ingredients steamed.
Leave to boil for some time till the palm oil floats, then take out the tomatoes, garden eggs, garlic and onions. Blend or grind them all to get a paste and add paste to the soup on fire.
Leave to boil for about 5 more minutes, add in the washed spinach or scent leaves and leave to boil for about 5 more minutes. Your soup ready, you can enjoy it only or with rice, boiled yam, fufu or any other swallow of your choice.
RECIPE 2
Ingredients

1 can of concentrated palm pulp, Meat, Smoked fish, Crayfish, Seasoning cubes, Chopped spinach, Salt to taste, Reserved chicken stock (optional)
Read also: Five Common Foods That Will Help Improve Your Beauty, Skin And Hair
Preparation
Wash and boil the meat, smoked fish with pepper, tomatoes and onions, salt and seasoning until tender and set aside.
Place the soup pot on fire and pour already extracted palm nut pulp. Add in the stock, boiled fish and meat and crayfish. If you are not using stock, you may as well leave salt and seasoning for later. Leave to boil and then let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes.Throw in the chopped spinach, mix well with the other ingredients and leave again to simmer for 2 for minutes. Now check for salt and seasoning, add if needed and leave to simmer for 2 more minutes. If not needed,  your Palm Nut soup is ready!!!!How To Prepare Palm Nut/ Banga Soup, The Nourishing And Anti-Ageing DishPhotos Credit: Getty

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