Banga Soup

Name: Banga Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: African
Ingredients: 200 g tinned palm fruit concentrate; 150 g fresh catfish; 300 ml water; 30 g onion; 1 tbsp ground dried crayfish; 1 tsp banga spice mix; 1 oburunbebe stick; 1 tsp ground dried chilli; 0.5 stock cube; 1 tbsp dried bitter leaf; salt

The Niger Delta's palm nut soup: fresh catfish simmered in a rich, oily palm fruit base scented with beletientien and ataiko, thickened by an oburunbebe stick and finished with dried bitter leaf. Eaten with starch or pounded yam.

Snacks Lunch & dinner 25g+ protein

55 min15 prep · 40 cookMedium659 kcalper serving

Method

Put 150 g of catfish steaks in a bowl, pour over boiling water with a pinch of salt and leave 1 minute, then rub off the slime and rinse under cold water. This firms the flesh so it holds together in the soup.
Lay the fish in a medium pot with 30 g of chopped onion, 0.5 of stock cube, 1 tsp of ground dried chilli and 100 ml of water. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes, shaking the pot rather than stirring, until the flesh is opaque. Lift the fish out onto a plate and reserve the stock in the pot.
Whisk 200 g of palm fruit concentrate with 200 ml of water until smooth and pour it into the pot with the fish stock. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the palm oil separates and floats in bright orange beads on top.