Soups
Banga (Palm Nut) Soup
A Delta classic — palm fruit concentrate, aromatic spices and fresh fish, finished with scent leaf.
Banga is built on palm fruit, not palm oil alone, and it rewards patience. Let it reduce properly and the soup turns glossy and thick without a spoonful of thickener.
Method
Pour the palm fruit concentrate into a pot with 500ml water and bring to a simmer.
Add the palm oil, chopped onion, pepper soup spice, ground crayfish and blended pepper. Season.
Simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens and the oil rises.
Lower the fish in gently and cook for 10–12 minutes without stirring, so the pieces stay whole.
Scatter the torn scent leaf over the top, cover, and take off the heat after 2 minutes.
Serve with starch, pounded yam or plain rice.
Cooking tips
- Add fish only once the soup has thickened — earlier and it breaks apart.
- Scent leaf goes in at the very end. Its aroma is the signature of a good banga.
- If the soup is thinner than you want, keep reducing rather than reaching for a thickener.
AFG Products Used
Everything you need from our range
Palm Oil
Red Palm Oil
Unrefined red palm oil — the colour and body behind banga, efo and bean porridge.
Spices & Seasonings
Pepper Soup Spice
An aromatic blend for rich, warming pepper soup — with meat, fish or vegetables.
Livestock Produce
Dry Crayfish
Cleaned, dried crayfish — the savoury lift in almost every Nigerian soup.
Spices & Seasonings
Scotch Bonnet Rodo Peppers
Fruity, floral, fiery — the pepper at the base of jollof and pepper stew.
More to cook
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