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Aprapransa (Fante palm nut pottage with crab)
Aprapransa: the Fante coast's palm-nut soup thickened with toasted corn flour, crab and beans
A coastal Fante dish from Cape Coast and the Central Region, aprapransa is made for festive days and big family meals: palm-nut soup with crab and smoked fish is stirred with toasted corn flour until it becomes a thick, spoonable pottage, then finished with tender black-eyed beans. The texture is somewhere between a stew and a soft dumpling, the colour a deep orange-brown, and the toasted corn gives a nutty, almost biscuity flavour under the rich palm fruit. It is often served with sliced avocado. Live crabs must come from a good fishmonger; discard any that are dead or smell off. The usual mistake is adding the toasted corn flour all at once, which makes lumps; sprinkle it in while stirring. Chef's tip: toast the corn flour until it is evenly deep golden and smells like popcorn, then add it to the soup gradually while stirring, because tipping it in at once is how the pottage turns lumpy.
- Total time
- 90 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the soup
- 14 oz palm nut cream (tinned)
- 6 ¼ cups water
- 1 onionhalved
- ½ oz fresh gingergrated
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 3 live crabsabout 600 g, cleaned and halved
- 9 oz smoked fishskin and bones removed, in pieces
For the pottage
- 9 oz fine yellow cornmealor ready-toasted aprapransa flour
- 14 oz cooked black-eyed beansdrained (1 tin)
- 1 onionthinly sliced
To serve
- 2 ripe avocado (optional)sliced
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Fresh ingredients (6)
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Toast 9 oz fine yellow cornmeal in a dry, wide frying pan over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until evenly deep golden and nutty. Tip into a bowl to stop it darkening.
12 minStep 2: Whisk 14 oz palm nut cream (tinned) with 6 ¼ cups water in a large pot. Add 1 onion, 3 ripe tomatoes, 2 Scotch bonnet chillies, ½ oz fresh ginger and 1 ½ tsp salt and bring to the boil.
8 minStep 3: Simmer until the tomatoes are soft, then lift them out with the onion and chillies, blend smooth and return to the pot.
15 minStep 4: Add 3 live crabs and 9 oz smoked fish and simmer until the crab shells are bright orange-red and the meat is white and opaque, and the palm oil starts to rise to the top.
15 minStep 5: Lift out the crabs and half the fish and keep warm. Add 1 onion to the soup.
Step 6: Lower the heat and sprinkle in the toasted corn flour a little at a time, stirring hard with a wooden spoon, until the soup becomes a thick, smooth pottage that falls heavily from the spoon.
8 minStep 7: Fold in 14 oz cooked black-eyed beans and cook gently, stirring, until heated through and the raw corn taste is gone.
7 minStep 8: Pile into bowls, top with the crab and reserved fish, and serve with 2 ripe avocado.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 560 kcal
- Protein
- 33 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 26 g
- Fibre
- 10 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does aprapransa (Fante palm nut pottage with crab) take?
- About 90 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 65 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of ripe tomatoes?
- Tinned chopped tomatoes: a 400g tin for about 6 tomatoes (in cooked dishes, not salads).
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