Palm nut soup or banga is a soup made from palm fruit [1] [2] common in the Cameroonian, Ghanaian, Nigerian, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ivorian communities. The soup is made from a palm cream or palm nut base with stewed marinated meats, smoked dried fish, and aromatics. It is often eaten with starch, fufu, omotuo, banku, fonio, or rice. The use of the palm fruit in cooking is significant in Ivorian, Cameronian, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Liberian and other West and Central African cuisine.
Mbanga soup is a palm fruit soup in Cameroonian cuisine [3] [4] and West African cuisine. [5] It is often served with kwacoco. The soup is Cameroon's version of the West African banga, a palm fruit soup eaten in areas including parts of Nigeria. In Cameroon mbanga is made using fresh palm nuts. Outside the area canned nuts can be used. [6]
Banga is a type of palm fruit soup from Southern (the Niger Delta) Nigeria, particularly the urhobo ethnic group. [7] This cuisine is quite different from ofe akwu, a variant found in Igbo culture. The Binis have a soup from palm fruits similar to ofe akwu" in ingredients and manner of preparation. [8] [9] The Urhobo people palm nut soup is called Ame adi. [10]
In Nigeria, the delicacy is used to accompany other dishes such as Starch (Usi) for the urhobo people of Delta State, Nigeria. The Igbo people have the stew and soup varieties made from palm fruits. Ofe akwu is the stew variety usually eaten with rice while the palm fruit extract is used especially in Anambra state to prepare Oha and Onugbu soup accompanied with moulding foods (popularly known as 'swallow') e.g. pounded cassava (utara/akpu), corn/cassava flour (nni oka).
The palm fruit is often harvested from locally grown palm fruit trees, after which it is thoroughly washed, boiled and mashed for the extraction of its oil, the main ingredient in the preparation of the Banga soup.
Banga soup is flavored with beletete, aidan fruit, rohojie, Banga spice leaves called Obenetietien (scent or bitter leaves can be substituted), a stick of oburunbebe, finely chopped onion, ground crayfish, chili pepper or scotch bonnet, and salt. [11] The soup is eaten with Starch made with Cassava Starch and palm-oil or rice in the south south or south eastern parts of Nigeria . Banga Soup is mostly prepared using fresh catfish (fresh fish Banga soup) dried/smoked fish or meat.
The soup can also make a delicious dish with the addition of Okra vegetable. [12]
Ame adi, also known as banga soup, is a soup eaten by the urhobo people of Southern Nigeria. It is made by extracting the liquid of palm kernels. [13] [14] [15] Thereafter, other ingredients like crayfish, meat, fish, pepper and cow tripe are added. It is eaten with eba or usi (starch). ( Elaeis guineensis ) extract. [16]
Fufu is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola and Gabon. It also includes variations in the Greater Antilles and Central America, where African culinary influence is high.
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.
Ẹ̀bà (Yoruba) also known as Ebe or Pinon' is a staple swallow from Nigeria, Togo and Benin, also eaten in the West African sub-region and other African countries. The term èbà originates from Yoruba. It is a cooked starchy vegetable food made from dried grated cassava (manioc) flour commonly known as garri all across West Africa. It is often eaten with rich soups and stews, with beef, stockfish or mutton. The dish is often described as having a slightly sour, sharp taste.
In West Africa, garri is the flour of the fresh starchy cassava root.
Cameroonian cuisine is one of the most varied in Africa due to Cameroon's location on the crossroads between the north, west, and center of the continent; the diversity in ethnicity with mixture ranging from Bantus, Semi-bantus and Shuwa Arabs, as well as the influence of German, French and British colonization.
Ghanaian cuisine refers to the meals of the Ghanaian people. The main dishes of Ghana are centered around starchy staple foods, accompanied by either a sauce or soup as well as a source of protein. The primary ingredients for the vast majority of soups and stews are tomatoes, hot peppers, and onions. As a result of these main ingredients, most Ghanaian jollof rice, soups, and stews appear red or orange.
Sierra Leonean cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from Sierra Leone. It follows the traditions of other West African cuisines. The country has 16 tribal ethnic groups.
West African cuisine encompasses a diverse range of foods that are split between its 16 countries. In West Africa, many families grow and raise their own food, and within each there is a division of labor. Indigenous foods consist of a number of plant species and animals, and are important to those whose lifestyle depends on farming and hunting.
Nigerian cuisine consists of dishes or food items from the hundreds of Native African ethnic groups that comprises Nigeria. Like other West African cuisines, it uses spices and herbs with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply flavored sauces and soups.
Central African cuisine includes the cuisines, cooking traditions, practices, ingredients and foods of the Central African Republic (CAR). Indigenous agriculture in the country includes millet, sorghum, banana, yam, okra, yellow onion, garlic, spinach, rice and palm oil. Imported crops of American origin include maize, manioc (cassava), peanuts, chili peppers, sweet potato and tomato. Additional foods include onions, garlic, chiles and peanuts.
Peanut soup or groundnut soup is a soup made from peanuts, often with various other ingredients. It is a staple in African cuisine but is also eaten in East Asia (Taiwan), the United States and other areas around the world. It is also common in some regions, such as Argentina's northwest, Bolivia and Peru, where it can sometimes be served with bone meat and hollow short pasta or fries. In Ghana it is often eaten with fufu, omo tuo and banku often very spicy. Groundnut soup is also a native soup of the Benin (Edo) people in Nigeria and it is often eaten with pounded yam. Some of the essential ingredients used in making it are: Ugu, Oziza leafs Piper guineense and Vernonia amygdalina.
Atama soup or Amme-Eddi is also called Banga Soup in pidgin English(Nigerian English) It is a kind of palm-fruit vegetable soup that originates from the Efik people of Cross River state, Urhobo and Isoko people of Delta State in South South Nigeria. It’s a popularly food among the Delta, Cross River and Akwa Ibom State People of Nigeria. The Urhobo people of Delta state called it Amme-edi or Banga soup. The soup is made from palm fruit-pulp that is derived from palm fruit; the extracted palm-pulp is base primary ingredient for the soup. Atama or Amme-edi(Banga) soup is thick and dark brown in color. It’s normally prepared with choice of protein like fresh meat or dry meat(mostly bush meat), dry fish, fresh fish and sometimes shrimp(dry or fresh), periwinkle as added proteins for more enhanced flavor. Ingredients: primary ingredients are fresh palm-pulp sourced from palm fruit, salt and pepper and secondary ingredients which are decided based on preference of the cooker are onions, salt, pepper(different kinds of pepper are preferences) and different kinds of spices could be added depending on the cooker preferred or desired taste or flavor. This soup could be styled into different flavors depending on cooking preferences. Every added ingredient could drastically change the taste of the food.
Aprapransa, originally called 'Akplijii ' is a Ghanaian GaDangme dish prepared by heat mixing roasted corn flour with a sacred GaDangme soup called Palm Nut Soup.
Banga Rice is a traditional Nigerian food prepared with palm fruit like in palm nut soup. The dish is common among the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. Banga is the juice extracted from palm nut fruit. It is called Banga rice after the juice extracted from the palm nut is cooked with parboiled white rice.
Oha soup is a soup mostly eaten in the south eastern part of Nigeria.
Pounded yam or Iyán (Yoruba) or Ruam-Yo (Tiv) or sakwara in Hausa, "Akpu, Utara-ji or Nni-ji" (Igbo) is a Nigerian swallow or Okele food native to the Yoruba, Edo, Igbo Tiv and Ebira ethnic groups. It is a traditional food prepared by pounding boiled yam with a mortar and pestle. Pounded yam is similar to mashed potatoes but heavier in consistency. It is a smooth and tasty delicacy traditionally eaten with the hands.
Oghwo evwri is a soup eaten in the south-central region of Nigeria. It is common among the Urhobo and Isoko. The soup is made with garri soaked in water after palm oil and potash mixture has been added. It is traditionally served at weddings in the Delta State; its absence at a wedding celebration is considered insulting to guests. It is also served at other traditional celebrations.
Ofe achara is an Igbo soup made mainly from Achara and mgbam. Ofe In the language refers to soup.
Ofe Owerri is an Igbo delicacy in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria. The soup is made with snails, beef, assorted meat and fishes.
Edo traditional food consists of dishes or food items common among the people of Edo State. The State is home to various ethnic groups including the Binis, Ishan (Esan), Afemai, Etsako, Uzebba Iuleha people [Owan] and others. The Traditional food found among these people usually involves soup and swallow. 'swallow' is a term for Nigerian meals that are taken with soup and ingested without chewing.
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