Ghana light soup is a simple but delicious soup commonly eaten in the country. Light soup and fufu is a quintessential Sunday afternoon meal, usually followed by a nap. This recipe for Ghana chicken light is my take on the famous spicy, light soup – it is easy to make and hits all the right spots flavour-wise.
For those who do not know, West Africans eat soup differently from most parts of the world. Soups are eaten with starchy mains like rice, pasta, yam, swallow (fufu, eba, banku, pounded yam, amala etc.) rather than eaten on their own. This Ghana chicken light soup is an excellent accompaniment for any of the starchy mains mentioned above.
The main difference between Ghana light soup and most other soups consumed across the region is that it is very thin and watery. Another difference is that the peppers, tomatoes and onions are boiled before liquidizing, unlike other soups where the trio are blended raw then cooked.
Cooking the scotch bonnet peppers before blending made me appreciate this pepper as flavouring, rather than just the provider of heat. The sweet and fruity undertones came alive and elevated the flavours of this soup.
How To Make Ghana Chicken Light Soup
Here are the ingredients you need...
Few notes about the ingredients...
- Meat/Fish: Like most West African sops, Ghana light soup can be cooked with fish or meat of choice or a combination – chicken, goat meat, fish, dried fish (koobi) all work well with the soup. You can substitute these with mushrooms and tofu to make it suitable for vegetarians.
- Palm oil: This is one West African soup that does not need oil. I was cheeky and added a little palm oil to my light soup. Most traditional recipes do not have this ingredient, so you can skip it if you prefer.
How To Make It...
Add the chicken legs into a pan. Slice one onion. Chop the garlic. Slice the ginger. Add all into the pot with some salt and a cup of water.
Cover the pot and allow to cook until the chicken is nearly soft. The time for this depends on whether you have soft or hard chicken.
Remove the stalk from the scotch bonnet peppers and tomatoes. Wash and add into the pan with the chicken. Pour another cup of water into the pan and cover.
Allow to cook for 10 mins, then remove from heat. Next, remove the chicken from the pan. Separate the stock and the remaining content of the pan with a colander. Then, pour the stock back into the pan.
Pour the peppers, onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic into the blender and puree.
Add back into the pot with the stock and chicken.
Cut off the two ends of the garden egg and cut into halves. Pour into the pan and add the palm oil. Add some water if the soup is too thick. Taste for salt and add more, if needed.
Cover the pan and allow to cook under low heat for at least another 20 mins.
Related Recipes
Other Ghanaian recipes to try...
Ghana Chicken Light Soup
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken legs
- 2 Onions
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 5 cm Ginger
- Salt to taste
- 2 Scotch bonnet peppers
- 4 Tomatoes
- 6 Garden eggs small
- 2 tablespoons Palm oil
Instructions
- Add the chicken legs into a pan. Slice one onion. Chop the garlic. Slice the ginger. Add all into the pot with some salt and a cup of water.
- Cover the pot and allow to cook until the chicken is nearly soft. The time for this depends on whether you have soft or hard chicken.
- Remove the stalk from the scotch bonnet peppers and tomatoes. Wash and add into the pan with the chicken. Pour another cup of water into the pan and cover.
- Allow to cook for 10 mins, then remove from heat. Next, remove the chicken from the pan.
- Separate the stock and the remaining content of the pan with a colander. Then, pour the stock back into the pan.
- Pour the peppers, onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic into a blender and puree.
- Add back into the pot with the stock and chicken.
- Cut off the two ends of the garden eggs and cut into halves. Pour into the pan and add the palm oil. Add some water if the soup is too thick. Taste for salt and add more, if needed.
- Cover the pan and allow to cook for at 20 mins before removing from heat.
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