Recipe #51: Chicken Groundnut Soup (nkate nkwan)

Roasted pureed peanuts (groundnuts) are frequently used to thicken soups or stews in Sub-Saharan African cooking, and are particularly famous in West African cuisine. For those of you who have asked me to post a recipe for this perennial favorite, I direct you to an article I wrote for Africa Diasporan Tourism.

Tomorrow I'll post a recipe for omo tuo (rice balls) a wonderful starch to accompany this dish, though it also goes well with a simple slice of boiled African yam or bread.

Lunch at Elmina Beach Hotel

This week my husband and I headed to Tarkwa in the Western Region of Ghana. Driving along the palm-lined coast we passed through Elmina and Cape Coast (whose grim slave castles earn this region a place as a UN World Heritage site). Instead of Accra's Ga kenkey, we passed roadside stands selling the Fanti version. We stopped for a lovely lunch: cassava and plantain fufu with goat groundnut (peanut) soup and I chatted with Theresa Anokye, the demi-chef responsible for the soup. I was delighted to find that this restaurant regularly features a weekend buffet of traditional Ghanaian foods that moves beyond the ordinary dishes to include those less familiar (to tourists), like tatale and bambara beans or aprapransa. Ah, yes, note the Star beer, too. And my Africa Cup of Nations scarf.