How to cook Ofe Akwu (Banga stew) without maggi.

Hello viewers, today we will learn how to cook Ofe akwu (banga stew)  without maggi. Ofe Akwu also known as Banga Stew  or soup as some may prefer to call it, is one of the most delicious traditional Nigerian soups made from palm fruits. Known for its rich taste and aroma, this native delicacy is most popular among Igbo and Benin tribe and commonly enjoyed with rice or boiled yam across many Nigerian homes.

On this page I will be teaching you step by step  on how to make yummy Ofe Akwu also known as Banga Stew without using maggi or other chemically formulated spice. Remember our aim here, it’s purely to guide you on how to make delicious and yummy foods without using maggi and other harmful taste enhancers.

List of ingredients for our ofe akwu (banga stew)

Below is the list of ingredients we will be using to make our delicious ofe akwu (banga stew):

• Palm fruit (mkpuru akwu)
• Ehuru
• Ehu
• Jansa
• Orima
• Control Onions
• Uziza
• Okanga
• Ogiri
• Okpei
• Iru
• Pepper
• Onions
• Scent leaf (Nchuanwu)
• Ugu
• Dry fish
• Goat meat
• Goat Tallow
• Frozen fish

Note that the quantity of ingredient depends on the quantity of Palm fruits also known as mkpuru akwu that you want to use.

Preparation Processes:

Cooking and pounding the palm fruit (mkpuruakwu)

Get the quantity of palm fruit you want to use, wash it into a clean pot, add water slightly above the palm fruit level in the pot. Place it on fire and allow it to cook for 15mins. To know when it has cooked, bring out one or two pieces using spoon, press it with your finger to check it it has soften. If it has cooked well, the flesh of the palm fruit would easily open but if does not, allow it to cook further.

Once it has cooked, sieve out the palm fruit from the water inside the pot and pour it into a clean mortar. Pound it gently  with the pestle until the palm fruit flesh separates from the nut and the flesh has pounded very smoothly/relatively smoothly or if you have a blender that can blend it without crushing the nuts, you can go ahead and use it.

Once your are done pounding, boil a warm water, wash your hand very well because you will be using your hand all through the extraction process. Rinse the pestle with warm water inside the mortar, make  add  warm water to the pounded palm fruit in the mortar, mix the pounded palm fruit well with the water using  your hand, while pressing the pulp paste to separate the  chaff and palm kernel from the broth. The thickness of the stew is determined with the quantity of water added during this stage, so know the amount to water you are adding so the broth won’t be too watery.

When your done removing the palm fruit chaff and the palm kernel, get a clean pot, put a sieve inside it, now pour the palm fruit broth into the pot through the sieve, the sieve will not allow other remaining byproducts to enter the pot. Then keep it aside.

Pounding or blending the natural spices

Wash and clean up the  mortar, its time to blend or pound our native spices.  Put control onions in the mortar and pound, its usually very strong so is better you break it into tiny pieces before adding other seed spice. Note that the quantity of spice you’ll use depends on the size of palm fruit you wishes to use. Having crushed the control onions, add ehuru, ehu, uziza, jansa and pound, when you must have crushed them, add okanga and orima last, and pound to powder. The reason for adding okanga and orima last is because they are not as dry as the other ones. When you are done with pounding them, put the pounded powder inside a plate and keep.

Into the same mortar, put pepper, ogiri okpei, iru and lastly crayfish and pound them. Ensure to use good quantity of crayfish because it’s taste booster since we are not using maggi.

Select your vegetables (Ugu and Scent leaf) separately, wash with salt and rinse with clean water. Slice them separately and keep.

Cooking of the stew

Wash your goat meat or any other meat you want to use, wash the beef tallow too. Beef tallows are very healthy and can be used as cooking oil too but in this particular dish we are cooking, we are using it to boost taste. After washing them put it directly into the pot with palm fruit broth. Wash the frozen fish and put inside the pot too. Use warm to wash the dry fish, remove the bone and other dirt, rinse it and put it inside the pot also.

Added my meat and fish direct into the stew broth and not cook them separately  because, the ofe akwu stew will cook for 45-50mins and with the size of meat I cut, the cooking interval is enough for them to be properly cooked. But if the size of meat you are using is too big, such that you are sure it won’t cook properly within 45-50mins, please cook it separately and add the meat broth to the palm fruit broth, but you have to be calculative with the amount of water you will use to during the washing of the pounded palm fruit, so that it won’t be too watery.

Having gotten everything ready, put the pot on fire, add sliced onions and salt preferably sea salt or pink Himalayan salts, these two are the healthy salts to use, then allow it cook for for 20mins. During this period you can cover the the pot so that the heat can circulate faster but you have to be very cautious by opening the cover at close intervals, once the boiling has circulated very well, remove the cover entirely. The reason is because the steam can lift the pot cover and the stew would splash all over the pot. As it is you’ll notice that the intensity of foaming is reducing, still allow it to cook until those foaming have almost disappear.

Add the pounded/blended seed and nut spices, stir it and allow it to cook for 10mins, then add the pounded/blended pepper(iru, okpei, crayfish) and ogiri, stir it and allow it to cook for 10mins. Then add the sliced scent leaf also known as nchuanwu or ahuji, stir it and cook slightly, stir again and  taste it to ensure the salt is okay, if its not okay, add salt to taste. After that, add the sliced ugu leaf. cover the pot and allow it to cook for 10secs and turn off the fire.

Serving our yummy meal

Our healthy and yummy Ofe akwu (Banga stew) is ready, tasting so good. The serving options can be with white rice or yam.

I will be so happy if you can replicate the steps above and share your experience with me. You will definitely like it.

Cooking without adding maggi and other harmful spice is possible, try this procedure out and share your experience with me. Gradually we would achieve a wholesome health, starting from our kitchen.

Remember, unadulterated  okpei, Ogiri, and red oil is key to sweet dishes. Incase you cannot get a good quality, reach out to me through the comment and I will source it for you.

Thank you for leaning with me on how to cook Ofe akwu (banga stew)  without maggi.