White Rice and Banga Soup with Plantain
Banga soup is built on palm kernel, which is boiled, pounded and strained to give a rich, deep orange broth with real body. This version keeps things simple: meat simmered with onion and a stock cube, then enriched with the palm kernel liquid. The rice is parboiled and drained first to shed its starch, so the grains stay separate. Salted fried plantain finishes the plate with a crisp, sweet counterpoint.
Instructions
Wash the rice, put it in a pot of water and bring it to a boil. As soon as it boils, tip the rice into a sieve to drain off the starch, then rinse it.
Return the rinsed rice to the pot, cover it with fresh water and add a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat until the water has been absorbed and the grains are tender.
Put the meat, stock cube, onion and salt in a separate pot and cook for a few minutes. Cover with water and simmer until the meat is soft.
Boil the palm kernel in its own pot of water until soft. Drain it, move it to a mortar and pound it well.
Stir a little warm water into the pounded palm kernel, keeping the mixture fairly thick rather than watery. Strain the liquid into the pot of meat.
Add any remaining ingredients to the soup and bring it to a boil, then take it off the heat.
Toss the sliced plantain with a little salt and fry it in a pan of groundnut oil until cooked.
Serve the soup with the white rice and the fried plantain on the side.
Make it personal.
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