If you are a groundnut soup lover but have a nut allergy or perhaps someone in your family has a nut allergy hence you can’t enjoy your favorite groundnut soup, then today, you’d be so happy you came across this post.
Did you know that Ghanaians have a nut-free soup that just tastes so much like groundnut soup but without the nuts? It is a soup made from a type of melon seeds called were. The only edible part of this type of melon is it seeds. Wonderfully, these seeds when toasted are so nutty and the milk extracted from makes light silky, nutty, nutritious and delicious soup. I dare say that it is much more delicious than groundnut soup but I leave the judgement to you. You’ve got to try it to believe it.
Wrewre can be found in most Ghanaian grocery stores in the diaspora. Do try this lovely soup and feedback to me.
This soup can be served with hot with fufu, boiled rice, rice balls, boiled yams, boiled potatoes, boiled ripe plantains or bread or can be eaten on its own.
Here are some tips to know when your soup is cooked.
TIPS:
Three tips to check that the soup is cooked are:
- A) the soup simmers down, this is noticeable by the mark left from the original level of soup.
- B) A layer of oil is formed on the surface of the soup.
- C) The soup thickens and when taken off the heat and allowed to cool down, it doesn’t separate into a distinct layer of water and soup.
The Nut free alternative Soup – WreWre Nkwan
Ingredients
- 2 Medium Hard Chicken (butchered)
- 1 Small Lemon
- 3 Cups of Wrewre
- 2 Medium sized Onions
- 4 Vine Medium Tomatoes
- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 6 Fresh Gloves of Garlic
- 100 g or thumb size fresh Ginger
- 1 Small Scotch Bonnet Pepper (or to your taste)
- 1 Sprig of Rosemary
- A Handful of Thyme
- A Handful of Sage
- 2 tbsp AVK 10 Spice Blend (alternatively
- 1 tbsp AVK 7 Spice Blend (alternatively
- Water – about 3 litres
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Prep the chicken by washing it with lemon juice and removing any remaining feathers. The lemon juice helps to remove the poultry smell.
- Blend one onion, half of the ginger, fresh herbs, and garlic. Use a little bit of water to help with the blending.
- Place the chicken in your soup pot and add salt to taste, the spice blends, and the blended onion mixture. Stir and let it season for about 30 minutes. Also add in the rest of the onions, tomatoes, tomato paste, and pepper. Also, slice the remaining ginger and add it.
- Now prep the Wrewre by toasting in the oven or dry toasting on the hob. Before toasting, do check and remove any remaining debris found in it.
- If toasting in the oven, pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and toast for about 30 minutes. Use a wide oven tray to help spread out the Wrewre for an even toasting. Also, stir the Wrewre15minutes into the toasting time to ensure an even toasting.
- Start steaming the chicken including everything else in the pot. You may need to add extra water to help the chicken to tenderize to your preference.
- Once the Wrewre has browned lightly, remove it from the oven and mill it into a coarse paste.
- Extract the Wrewre milk by blending the coarse paste with water and using a fine sieve to strain it. Repeat this step a couple of times until the water becomes clear and nonmilky. Then throw away the chaff. Use about 3 liters of water for this process.
- Now using a finer sieve, re-strain the milky solution a couple of times to remove as much chuff as possible. The result should be silky smooth milk with little or no grits when passed through the fingertips.
- Now check on your steaming pot, the vegetables would have softened up, ready to be removed and blended. Check the seasoning of the chicken and correct it with salt.
- Blend the onion, tomatoes, and pepper. Add it back into the soup pot. Cover and let it simmer for about 10 minutes until a light layer of oil forms.
- Now add the Wrewre milk to the pot, straining it once more.
- Turn up the heat and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes. Then turn down the heat and let it simmer gently until cooked to perfection. This stage could take an hour depending on your heat settings. Your soup is ready when the consistency is right for you and a layer of oil forms at the top. Check my tips below to know when the soup is cooked
