Ingredients
Palm base
- 1 kgfresh palm fruit, or 800 g tinned palm nut cream
- water
Protein
- 500 ggoat or beef, cubed
- 300 gsmoked fish, flaked and boned
- 200 gsalted tilapia or koobi
- 6crabs
- 200 gsnails, cleaned
Aromatics
- 2onions
- 4tomatoes
- 2kpakpo shito or scotch bonnet peppers
- 1 tbspground dried shrimp
- 1stock cube
- salt
Optional
- 2 tbspabedru or prekese pods
- a few grains of selim, hwentia
To serve
- fufu, banku, or omo tuo
Directions
- Pound the boiled fruit in a mortar to loosen the flesh from the hard kernels. Pound to loosen rather than to crush. Add hot water, work the pulp hard with your hands, and strain it through a sieve, pressing. Discard the fibres and kernels and keep the thick orange liquid, which is the whole base of the soup.
- Boil the meat with onion, a little salt and a stock cube until nearly tender, about 45 minutes, and keep the stock. Pour the palm extract into a pot and bring it to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Simmer it uncovered so it reduces and thickens. Abenkwan should coat a spoon rather than run off it. Skim off some of the oil that rises to the surface as it cooks.
- Take some of the oil off but not all of it. Palm fruit is very rich and an unskimmed pot is heavy going, but the soup should still be glossy. Blend the onion, tomatoes and peppers and add them to the pot. Add the cooked meat with its stock, the smoked fish, the salted fish and the ground shrimp.
- Rinse the salted fish thoroughly first, and soak it if it is very salty, tasting a piece before it goes in. Add the prekese pod and grains of selim if using, whole, and fish them out before serving. Simmer everything for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Add the crab and snails for the last 10 minutes only. Crab and snails toughen if simmered long, and they go in late.
- Taste and season, and the soup should be rich, faintly sour from the palm and clearly hot. The finished soup should be deep orange, thick and glossy, with a little oil floating on the surface. Serve with fufu, banku or omo tuo, in a bowl with the starch sitting in the soup.
Technique
- Tinned palm nut cream is sold in African shops and is what most households use.
- Snails are a prized addition and the large African land snails are the traditional ones.
- It freezes well and thickens in the fridge.
Substitutions
- Tinned palm nut cream for fresh palm fruit.
- Smoked mackerel or haddock in place of African smoked fish.
Variations
- Mbanga soup, the Cameroonian version with njangsa and country spices.
- Banga soup, the Nigerian Delta version.
- With chicken instead of goat.
History
Pressed from the fruit of the oil palm native to Ghana’s forest belt, the base of Akan Sunday soups long before groundnut arrived.
Frequently asked questions
What is Palm nut soup?
Palm nut soup is a soup & stew from Ghana: rich palm-fruit soup with smoked fish, crab and snails. Pressed from the fruit of the oil palm native to Ghana’s forest belt, the base of Akan Sunday soups long before groundnut arrived.
How long does Palm nut soup take to make?
Palm nut soup takes 40 min of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Palm nut soup?
Yes, within limits. Tinned palm nut cream for fresh palm fruit. Smoked mackerel or haddock in place of African smoked fish.
What is the most important thing to get right in Palm nut soup?
Pound the boiled fruit in a mortar to loosen the flesh from the hard kernels. Pound to loosen rather than to crush. Add hot water, work the pulp hard with your hands, and strain it through a sieve, pressing. Discard the fibres and kernels and keep the thick orange liquid, which is the whole base of the soup.
