Kwacoco with Banga Soup is a traditional Cameroonian recipe for a dish of steamed cocoyam paste served with smoked fish and greens cooked in a spiced palm nut base with onion and chilli. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Cameroonian version of: Kwacoco with Banga Soup.
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Ingredients:
2kg White Macabo Cocoyams
800g palm soup base or 1kg Fresh Palm Nut Fruit
4 Large Pieces of Smoked Barracuda or Smoked Fish of Choice
½ cup ground Crayfish
1 Whole Alligator Pepper
1 Leaf Manjuweli (Alligator pepper leaf)
Bush Pepper (Guinea/Ashani pepper)
2 Habanero chillies
1 Large Bunch Spinach or Fresh Water Leaves or a leafy vegetable of Choice
2 Small Pieces of Aidan fruit
¼ tsp ground Country Onion
2 Whole Pebbe (calabash nutmegs)
2 x 3cm pieces of Ginger
½ Medium Onion
2 garlic Cloves
Maggi Bouillon cube
Salt, to taste
Method:
To prepare the Kwacoco: Peel the cocoyams with a potato peeler or a sharp knife (take care as direct skin contact can cause skin irritation). Thoroughly wash the cocoyams, then set in a bowl of clean water.
Grate the cocoyams using the large holes of a grater to form the cocoyam paste and add a pinch of salt and 4 tbsp of water. Aerate the cocoyam paste by continuously beating with a wooden spoon to reach a fluffy texture.
Treat your banana or plantain leaves by gently placing one sheet at a time on top of an open flame, heating without letting it burn.
In the absence of banana leaves, line the inside of a sheet of aluminium foil with parchment paper and wrap the Kwacoco as directed below.
Scoop up about a cup of the cocoyam paste and set it on a treated leaf, then wrap by rolling the leaf and folding over both ends to prevent the paste from spilling.
Tie with string, then repeat with the remaining cocoyam paste. Place the wrapped cocoyam bundles into a pan, then cover with and water and cook over medium heat for 2 hours. Add more water if needed and continue cooking until the kwacocos are done.
Pour the palm nut paste into a clean pan and add 2.5l of hot water. Mix well until smooth then cook over medium heat and bring to a boil.
Process the alligator pepper, black pepper, Aidan fruit pieces and crushed calabash nutmegs in a spice blender. Combine this spice powder with the ground country onion, ginger, chillies, garlic and onion in a blender until it forms a smooth purée then scrape into a bowl and set aside.
Just when the palm nut soup begins to thicken, add the spice blend, smoked fish, crayfish, salt, bouillon and the manjuweli (Alligator pepper leaf). Stir gradually not to break the fish. Set over medium to low heat and cook for 15 minutes.
Add the spinach or water leaves into the pan and cook for an additional 10 minutes over low heat. Add water if needed to attain your preferred consistency. Then cook on low heat for an additional 5 minutes.
Serve by unwrapping the kwacoco from their leaf parsels, set in a bowl and add the palm nut soup with the smoked fish.
