How to cook Banga Soup (Ofe Akwu)





Nigerian Banga Soup or Ofe Akwu is native to
the Niger Delta and the South Eastern parts
of Nigeria. In the Niger Delta areas, Banga
soup is commonly eaten with various fufu
recipes: 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 palm fruit oil extract used in cooking
Banga Soup / Stew is quite 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. Palm fruit
oil extracted for Banga Soup contains less
saturated fat than palm oils.
Ingredients for Banga Soup
1 kg Palm Fruits or 800g tinned Palm
Fruit Concentrate
Beef
Dry Fish
Vegetable: Scent Leaves for Ofe Akwu or
dried and crushed bitterleaves for Delta-
style Banga Soup
2 medium onions
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
Salt and Chilli Pepper (to taste)
Ogiri Okpei (Iru)
1-2 big stock cubes
Before you cook the Nigerian Banga Soup
1. Extract the palm fruit concentrate from
the palm fruits. If using the tinned palm
fruit concentrate, open the tin and set
aside.
2. Cook the beef and the dry fish with 1 bulb
of diced onion and the stock cubes till
done.
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.
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.
Cooking Directions
1. 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.
2. Now, add the beef, dry fish and stock, the
onions, crayfish and pepper and leave to
boil very well.
3. 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,
Semolina, Amala or Pounded Yam .
Cooking Directions for those using tinned
palm fruit concentrate
1. When the beef and fish are well done,
add the palm fruit concentrate and add
water to get the consistency you like for
your stews. Leave to boil very well.
2. Add the onions, crayfish, pepper and ogiri
blend and let it boil very well.
3. Add the scent leaves or other vegetable
and salt to taste. Leave to simmer for
about 2 mins. The Banga Soup is done.
If you used bitter leaves to prepare it, serve
with Nigerian fufu meals especially Starch. If
you used scent leaves to prepare it, serve
with boiled white rice.