Banga Soup (Delta Style)
It is a very rich pot of soup made with Palmfruit juice and special spices.
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken
- 1 small catfish
- stockfish
- dry fish
- 5 cups banga extract (1 large can palm fruit extract)
- 1 teaspoon Cameroun pepper
- 2 teaspoons dry chili pepper
- 3 tablespoons ground crayfish
- 2 teaspoons banga spice (Ataiko and Iruguje)
- 2 seasoniong cubes
- salt
- 1 Oburunbebe stick
- 2 tablespoons dry beletietien leaves
Instructions
- Cut and wash chicken. Place in a pot, season with salt, seasoning cube and Cameroun pepper, cover and place over medium heat.
- Cook until heated through (it will finish cooking in the soup).
- In a bowl, place your washed catfish. Sprinkle with salt and one seasoning cube, stir and set aside.
- Soak dry fish in boiling hot water for 2 minutes, drain and rinse well with cold water. Rinse stockfish.
- Pour banga extract into a pot over medium-high heat.
- Add dryfish, stockfish, crayfish, dry chilli pepper and banga spice. Bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes.
- Add chicken, stock and water up to 2 cups and seasoning cube. Stir and taste for salt.
- Place the oburunbebe stick in the soup and cook for 5 minutes.
- Gently add the pieces of catfish and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle the beletietien leaves into the pot and shake to distribute without breaking the fish.
- Cook for 5 minutes and Banga soup delta style is ready.
To serve
- To serve in an authentic way, put individual-sized portions into the evwere (clay pot) and place over the fire.
- Leave to boil until thickened further and the edge of the soup looks caked up.
- Using a tea towel slide it into a tray and take it to the table. Serve with Starch (Usi).
Notes
- If you can't find beletietien leaves substitute with thinly sliced fresh or dry bitter leaf or scent leaf.
- The oburunbebe stick can be reused, pick out of the pot, rinse thoroughly, leave out to dry and store. I store mine in the refrigerator.
- I don't use onions in my Banga soup delta style.
- Do not thicken your Banga soup with a thickener, it will change the taste, rather pick out the meat so they don't get too soft, then boil your soup over high heat to lose some of the liquid until it thickens. The soup thickens further as it cools down.
- Fresh or dry prawns, shrimps, periwinkles, snails etc. are lovely in Banga soup.
If you are using dry prawns, add the body whole and grind some of the heads with your crayfish. - Banga extract has a tendency to foam so it is better to leave it open until you start adding your ingredients.
