Abenkwan (Palm Nut Soup)

 

I came across a tin of Palm Nut Soup concentrate at my local world foods store and was intrigued. After some research I found a few recipes for this fiery hot soup popular in Western Africa. In Ghana it's called Abenkwan and is often made with a smoked fish or meat but can be made with just vegetables. 

Ingredients

makes 6 portions

2 teaspoons Dried Thyme 

2 Star Anise

1 teaspoon ground cloves 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 onions 

15g ginger, roughly chopped 

5 cloves garlic 

2 Scotch bonnet peppers

400g chopped tomato,

400g  Palm Nut (Soup) concentrate, tin

1 tbsp ground prekese

3 litres veg stock/water (traditionally made with Maggi stock cubes if you don't mind some MSG) 

250g okra, cut into 3cm length pieces

1 aubergine, cut into bite-sized pieces

Method

Place the onions, ginger and garlic cloves into a blender, add a splash of water and blitz into a paste. (Alternatively you could finely chop then use a pestle and motar to pulp into a paste.) 

In a large heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat add the onion/garlic/ginger paste and cook for a minute or two. Add the ground prekese , thyme, star anise and cloves. Stir well then add the blended tomato and about 3/4 litres of veg stock to loosen the mix.  

Drop in the scotch bonnet and bring to a simmer.

In the meantime scoop out the palm nut soup concentrate into a blender with another 3/4 litres of water, blend and pour into the saucepan. Add a further 1.5 litre of stock to the soup and bring to the boil before reducing to a simmer.  

Cook slowly for half an hour or longer.

A layer of oil will begin appear on the top. Skim much of it away. Keep aside for later use. (You could use some of the skimmed oil to fry off the aubergines before adding them to the pot.)

When the soup has reduced to a soupy consistency, lower the heat, add the vegetables and cover the pot. Carry on simmering for a further half an hour. 

Continue to skim off any excess oil every now and again. Leave as much or as little as you prefer.

Serve hot with fufu (bread)