by: Abubakari A. Adams copyright for Abu by Bettina Network
Groundnut Soup:
This is basically what I consider one of the best soups favored by most people in Ghana, and some West African countries. In Ghana some people in fact would not mind eating this soup for Lunch and Supper. The main reason this soup is call groundnut (peanut) soup is obviously because groundnut is the most dominant ingredient in the soup. The ground nut is made in the form of paste just like peanut butter but not as smooth as the commercial peanut butter and definitely with no sugar added or any of the other ingredients that come with this commercial peanut butter, – just the ground nut (the ground peanuts). The soup normally comes in different flavors which is mostly defined by the type of protein supplement used in the soup (type of meat, fish, snails, crab etc.)
Ingredients:
The quantity of ingredients in this recipe can be increased or reduced based on how thick or light you like your soup to be, or how much spice you like in your food.
* Groundnut (Peanut); no sugar just the peanuts (roasted)
* 4 relatively large Tomato
* Hot pepper (use your as much as you think you can handle I would normally use like 1 part pepper to 5 part tomato; 1:5 ratio)
* One large sized Onion
* Garlic (optional)
* Medium sized Ginger
* Salt
* 1 medium sized Garden egg (egg-plant)
* Fish (fresh fish will do but preferably smoked fish gives a better turn out), Meat (fresh meat of choice, most people in Ghana use goat meat) or Crabs. It is okay to use a combination of all three types, unless there are people who don’t eat one or more of the trio.
Tools:
Need at least two good sized saucepans
Wooden spoon or spatula
Chopping board
Knife
Blender
2 sources of fire (number is optional, saves cooking time)
Other tools that you may deem necessary
Process:
There are different processes in cooking the groundnut soup. The process outlined is my preferred method.
* First, do the most obvious of all cooking practice, (clean all the ingredients as needed)
* Put meat, fish or crab into reasonable sized saucepan; add water until it is the same level with the meat, fish or crab; add salt as needed and then put the whole tomatoes, ginger, garlic, garden eggs (egg plant) and pepper on top of the meat, fish or crab.
* Cook the combination under slightly high temperature until the vegetable gets softer or gets cooked.
* Take out all the vegetable (tomatoes, onions, garlics, pepper, ginger and egg-plant) and blend them all together into a light puree.
* Put a reasonable-sized saucepan on medium heat and put the groundnut paste (peanut butter) in the saucepan. Stir, while gradually adding a little water until the color turns dark brown and/or you start to see it getting oily.
NOTE; each time you add water, stir until the water is completely absorbed before adding more water.
* Once the paste gets to what I term as the brown stage or the oil zone, add the vegetable puree to the groundnut paste and keep stirring until you get an almost homogeneous mixture.
* Add the partly cooked meat, fish or crab and the stock, stir and add hot water to get the desired thickness.
* Allow to boil on medium heat until the oil starts to surface. This stage will take about 15 to 20 min. on average.
* Check to make sure the salt is okay and add more if necessary. NOTE: you can always add more salt after it is served
Ed. Note:
Abu is a tremendous young man from Ghana. His area of expertise is Mechanical Engineering and he has a diploma from MIT’s Fab Academy in Digital Fabrication (How to Make Almost Anything). Abu speaks six languages and since he is a world traveler and stays in different countries for extended periods of time, he will probably constantly add other languages to this repertoire. One of Abu’s passions is the FabLab. He has worked with others to set up several and will be on his way to South Africa for the next year to help set up yet another FabLab. Cooking is something Abu loves to do and we hope he will share more of his recipes with Bettina Network’s Blog. As he travels the world and picks up different ways of cooking and sometimes how different cultures use the same ingredients, we know he will not forget us and will send recipes, history and updates on how the FabLabs are developing around the world.
He is a very valued member of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community.
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