How to Make Palm Nut Soup (Abenkwan & Banga)
Palm nut soup is made from the pulp of the palm fruit, simmered into a rich, deep-orange soup that carries meat and fish beautifully. Ghanaians know it as abenkwan; the closely related Nigerian version, cooked with its own spice blend, is banga.
Made from scratch it means boiling and pounding palm fruits and straining the pulp — hours of work. Tinned palm nut cream does that step for you, which turns a weekend dish into a weeknight one without giving much away.
Prep 15m · Cook 50m · Serves 6
What you need
- 1 tin palm nut cream or concentrate (800g)
- 500g beef, goat or assorted meat
- 2 pieces smoked fish
- 1 piece dried or salted fish, soaked
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes
- 1–2 scotch bonnet peppers
- 1 tbsp banga spice (for the Nigerian version)
- 2 stock cubes
- Salt to taste
How to make it
- Season and boil the meat with half the onion and a stock cube until tender, reserving the stock.
- Empty the palm nut cream into a pot and whisk in the reserved stock and enough water to reach a pourable, soup-like consistency.
- Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer. Blend the tomatoes, pepper and remaining onion and stir them in.
- Add the cooked meat, smoked fish and soaked dried fish. For banga, stir in the banga spice now.
- Simmer uncovered for 30–40 minutes. The soup is ready when it has thickened slightly and a layer of orange oil has risen to the surface — do not skim it off; that is the dish.
- Season with the second stock cube and salt, simmer five minutes more, and serve hot.
Choosing palm nut cream
Look for a deep orange colour and a thick consistency — both signs of properly extracted pulp. Thin, pale concentrate makes a thin, pale soup no amount of simmering will rescue.
Shop palm nut cream and soup bases, smoked and dried fish and banga spice.
Questions people ask
What is palm nut soup made from?
The pulp of the palm fruit. Traditionally the fruits are boiled and pounded and the pulp strained from the fibre and nuts; tinned palm nut cream does that extraction for you and gives the same base.
What is the difference between abenkwan and banga?
They share a base and diverge in seasoning. Abenkwan is the Ghanaian version, kept relatively simple so the palm fruit leads. Banga is the Nigerian version, built out with a specific spice blend that gives it a distinctly different aroma.
How do I know when palm nut soup is ready?
When a layer of deep orange oil rises to the surface and the soup has thickened slightly. That separation is the sign the pulp has cooked properly, and it takes at least half an hour of simmering.
What do you eat palm nut soup with?
Fufu is the traditional partner in Ghana, and starch or pounded yam in Nigeria. It is also good with rice or plain boiled yam.