Ghanaian Palm Nut Soup with Goat

Serves: 4-7  / Ready in: 1 hour 10 minutes/ Difficulty: Medium 

Known regionally as abenkwan, palm nut soup is one of the most loved dishes across Ghana. This meaty soup captures the umami flavours of West African herbs such as prekese, boasting layers of flavour that define this uniquely satisfying dish. The dish can be eaten with pounded yams, plantains or ground rice, but Ghanaians will tell you that fufu with palm nut soup conquers all!

Ingredients

1kg goat meat, shoulder or leg

2 teaspoons Tropical Sun Dried Thyme 

2 Tropical Sun Star Anise

1/2 teaspoon aniseed 

1 teaspoon cloves 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 Tropical Sun Vegetable Stock Cubes

2 teaspoons Tropical Sun Crayfish Power 

2 medium onions 

2 teaspoons ginger, roughly chopped 

5 cloves garlic 

1 Scotch bonnet pepper

80g tomato puree

1 tin (400g) Tropical Sun Palm Nut Soup

1 prekese, bruised 

3 litres water 

Method

1. Dice the meat into medium size cubes, clean and marinate with the stock cube, crayfish powder, dry spices and salt. Rub well into the meat and  marinate for at least 90 minutes. 
2. Blend one onion, 1/2 of the ginger and 2 garlic cloves together. Use about 125ml cup of water to help with the blending. 
3. Place the meat and the blended mix in a dutch pot and mix well. 
4. Wash and bruise the edges of the prekese, slit the edges and add to the dutch pot. 
5. Place the pot on a medium heat. Cover and let simmer. Stir from time to time ensuring the mixture does not catch and burn. Add more water (approx 200ml) if necessary but not to completely cover. Steam the meat inits own juices for 20 minutes. 
6. Mix the tomato puree with 2-3 tablespoons of water (or until you get a soup-like consistency), add to the pot and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes. 
7. Blend the remaining onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and Scotch bonnet pepper and pour on top of the meat.
8. Put the palm nut soup concentrate into a blender with 800ml of water, blend and add to the soup.
9. Add litre of water to the soup and stir, return to the boil then reduce the heat and allow to continue simmering while occasionally skimming as foam forms at the surface.  
10. Cook to soup for 60 minutes or until the meat is tender. 
11. When the soup has reduced to a thickened consistency, lower the heat, half cover the pot and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. A layer of oil will begin to form on the top of the soup. Skim this off, allow the soup to rest a while then serve. 
12. Serve with fufu, banku or ground rice.