Light Soup
A clear, spicy tomato-based broth with meat or fish — Ghana's light, refreshing answer to heavy stews.
Ingredients
- •Chicken or goat meat
- •Tomatoes
- •Scotch bonnet
- •Onions
- •Garlic
- •Ginger
- •Prewu (dried pepper)
- •Salt
- •Stock cubes
Instructions
Cook meat
Season meat with salt, ginger, and garlic. Cook in a pot with water for 20 minutes.
Blend aromatics
Blend tomatoes, onions, scotch bonnet, and prewu.
Add to pot
Add blended mixture to the meat. Bring to a boil.
Simmer
Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until the broth is clear and fragrant. Season and adjust spice level.
Despite its name, Ghanaian Light Soup is anything but light in flavor. It is a clear, intensely aromatic broth built on tomatoes, scotch bonnet, onions, and prewu (a dried West African pepper) that packs a significant punch. What makes it "light" is its clarity and thinness compared to the thicker palm nut soup and groundnut soup — the broth is not thickened with any paste or starch.
Light soup is considered the most refreshing and digestible of Ghanaian soups and is often the soup of choice for convalescing individuals or those who want something warming without heaviness. It is also the soup most commonly paired with fufu in informal home settings, where the thin broth soaks into the fufu beautifully.
The quality of light soup depends entirely on the quality and freshness of the tomatoes and the balance of spice. A great light soup should be clear, deeply flavored, and pleasantly hot without being overwhelming. It is eaten with fufu, banku, or rice, and can be made with chicken, goat, beef, fish, or snail.