Palm butter and fufu recipe
The palm butter and fufu recipe is one of the most sought recipes in West Africa. The recipe places massive emphasis on the delicacy of swallows. Making the palm soup will make you remember pepper soup, since they have almost the same procedures. The only difference is the palm butter and palm leaves that you add to the soup.
Tips you need to note while making your palm butter soup
- You do not need onions to make palm butter soup. Onions will only incorporate sourness into your food.
- You can make the soup as peppery as you wish.
- If you’d be working with garlic, ensure that you only use it in meager amounts.
- One of the ingredients you will be making use of is palm butter. Palm butter is made from palm oil (the red oil)
- Ensure that you stir your soup regularly as you cook.
- Ensure that you add fish or meat stock to your soup as you cook. The reason for this is because the palm butter you add may make the soup a bit thicker than it should be. The stock will help to reduce the thickness of the soup considerably.
Palm butter soup cannot be eaten alone. That is why we will also be talking about the recipe for fufu. You could choose to buy your fufu wraps or make them yourself. For the latter option, employ the tips listed out below;
Tips to employ while making your fufu
- You can either work with normal cassava slices or the fermented cassava slices. The only difference between the two is that the fermented cassava slices have a more pronounced smell and texture as compared to the unfermented cassava slices.
- When making your fufu wraps, you can add other starchy foods like yam, ripe plantain, etc.
- If you cannot get your fufu to have the desired consistency, you can add thickening agents like cornmeal flour, Semolina, etc.
- The kind of cassava that you use for your fufu matters a lot. Sweet cassava is preferred to bitter cassava. The reason for this is because the latter still contains constituents that may be harmful to you on consumption.
- If you do not want to work with cassava, you could work with corn meal. You would need to add a little bit of salt to the mix though. You could also work with Semolina flour and rice. Ensure that you grind the rice into a workable paste.
Palm butter and fufu ingredients
The palm butter and fufu ingredients will all be listed out in this section. In places where you have options, choose the one that sits best with you.
1. Palm butter
This ingredient is one of the major ingredients of the palm butter soup. You can either get this butter locally from a store (it is usually available in cans as Palm Soup base) or make it yourself. If you are going to work with the latter option, follow the steps below;
How to make palm butter
- Get a handful of palm nuts
- Boil the palm nuts for a long time. Stop the boiling process when the nuts become soft.
- Use a machine or food processor to reduce the nuts into a workable paste. You could also use the traditional pounding procedure to break the woody exterior into pulp.
- Strain the pulp through a cloth sieve.
- Boil the fluid that comes out as filtrate so that the water in it can leave.
- Use flour and any other seasoning of your choice to give it consistency.
- The paste you get is known as palm butter. It has the same texture as butter. To store palm butter, store in a freezer.
2. Chicken or turkey (ensure that you chop them into small bits)
3. Beef (this should also be cut into small bits)
4. Salt (for taste)
5. Pepper
6. Dry or salt-smeared cod (This ingredient is what you need when you want seafood in your soup. Ensure that you immerse it in water and clean up the insides before using it.)
7. Fresh or dried prawns (You could also work with shrimps if you wish)
8. Crab meat
9. Herrings
10. Palm leaf or hay leaf
Next, let’s consider the ingredients you need to make fufu
Fufu ingredients
- Cassava tubers
- Plantain (ripe or unripe)
- Yam
- Water
- Olive oil
Now, with all the details described above in mind, let’s start with the palm butter soup recipe!
How to cook palm butter soup
1. Wash the meat you’d be using for your palm butter soup with water. Now, place the rinsed pieces of meat inside a pot. After that, fill the pot with water. The palm butter soup starts off initially with procedures used for pepper soup. So, the amount of water you should add to the meat should correspond to the number of people eating the soup.
2. Fix the pot to a cooker burning on medium heat.
3. Add in all of your seasonings—pepper, magi cubes, salt, curry, thyme, etc.
4. Allow the meat to cook thoroughly.
5. If you want to add in seafood, add it now. Then, allow your soup to cook for longer.
6. Add in palm butter leaf to the mixture.
7. Open your can of palm mix and then, pour it into your pot of soup.
8. Allow the mixture to cook for twenty more minutes.
How to cook fufu
To cook your fufu, follow the procedures listed below;
1. Slice your peeled cassava tuber into slices. If you want to add any other thing to it—plantain—add it here.
2. Blend the two ingredients using a food processor.
3. After getting a good mix, place the blend into a pot and then, add water.
4. The cooker should be on medium heat
5. With a wooden stick, stir the mix until you get a paste with regular consistency. If the result is too thick, add in more water. If it’s too flabby, continue to stir. However, ensure that you do not cook the fufu for too long. Doing that could give it an undesirable color.
6. Serve the fufu into wraps.