Afro Delicacies; The Banga soup of the Deltan people (Preparation process also included, Check out)

Have you ever come across the Banga soup before? If your answer is no then you are missing big time the delicious taste of one of the best dishes in Africa.

The Banga soup is indigenous to the Deltans but also loved and enjoyed by both People from Edo state and all of the Niger Delta.
It is best served with starch or eba (or as some 'ajebo' will call it, cassava flakes ;-P )

Ingredients | Serving: 12 Persons.
 Meat (1kg)
 Crayfish (half cup)
 Fresh prawn [oporo](one cup)
 Fresh Palm Fruits (Banga) (8 cups)
 Medium sized dry fish / smoked fish (1)
 Red scotch bonnet pepper “Ata rodo” (8)
 Ataiko (1 tbsp)
 Irugege (1 teaspoon)
 Oburunbebe Stick (Banga stick) (1)
 Dried Beletientien leaves (half cup) or
 Thinly sliced bitter leaves (half cup)
 3 cubes of knorr
 Periwinkles (1)
 Salt to taste.

Now let's look at the steps in cooking this dish as extracted from allnigerianfoods.com. Do well to visit sha as it has a lot for you.

Oya let's go...

Start by grinding the spices. Add them all together (ataiko, Irugege and a cup of crayfish), blend to powder. Blend the pepper also. Wash the dried or smoked fish and remove center bones.
wash and precook the prawn, use half cup of water, a cube of maggi and a pinch of salt.
I used already precooked meats. If your meat is not precooked yet, do that now. Wash properly and use two cubes of knorr and a pinch of salt. Cook the meat until it becomes soft, easy to chew and the water is almost dried. Add salt to taste and allow another three minutes. Set aside.
Boil the palm fruit for 20 minutes, pound with a mortar and pestle, transfer into a bowl, add water and extract the juice. You will need about 7-10 cups of that palm fruit juice for this cooking. It should be thick.
Use a sieve to strain the extract into your cooking pot, allow to boil for 15 minutes with the pot half-covered. It should be a lot thicker now.
Add the cleaned dried fish, ground (crayfish, ataiko plus irugege), oburunbebe stick, precooked meat, ground pepper and salt to taste. Cover and allow another 10 minutes.
Add the crushed dried beletientien leaves or thinly sliced bitter leaves, precooked prawn, periwinkles and one cube of knorr. Stir, cover and allow to simmer for 3 minutes.
This is how to make the popular banga soup that is loved and made by the Deltans.

Simple right? Oya give it a try. No dulling oh.
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