Peanut soup or groundnut soup is a

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

made from

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

s, often with various other ingredients. It is a

staple Staple may refer to: *Staple food, a foodstuff that forms the basic constituent of a diet *Staple (fastener), a small formed metal fastener **Surgical staple Arts, entertainment, and media *Staple (band), a Christian post-hardcore band **Staple ( ...

West African cuisine West African cuisine encompasses a diverse range of foods that are split between its 16 countries. In West Africa, many families grow and raise their own food, and within each there is a division of labor. Indigenous foods consist of a number of ...

but is also eaten in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

(

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

), the United States (mainly in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

) and other areas around the world. It is also common in some regions, such as

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

's northwest,

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, where it can sometimes be served with bone meat and hollow short pasta or fries. In

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

it is often eaten with

fufu Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou ) is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African c ...

omo tuo Omo tuo (; "rice balls") is a Ghanaian staple food made with rice. Mostly, "broken rice" or long grain rice broken into smaller pieces is used. It is a Ghanaian version of the Nigerian Hausa people, Hausa staple Tuwon shinkafa, Tuwon Shinkafa, w ...

and banku and is often very

spicy Pungency ( ) is the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy ( ) is sometimes applied to foods with a lower ...

. Groundnut soup is also a native soup of the Benin (Edo) people in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and it is often eaten with pounded yam. Some of the essential ingredients used in making it are ugu, oziza leaves, ''

Piper guineense ''Piper guineense'' is a West African species of ''Piper''; the spice derived from its dried fruit is known as Ashanti pepper, Benin pepper, Edo pepper, false cubeb, Guinea cubeb, and called locally ''kale'', ''kukauabe'', ''masoro'', ''etiñk ...

'' (uziza seed) and ''

Vernonia amygdalina ''Vernonia amygdalina'', a member of the daisy family, is a small to medium-sized shrub that grows in tropical Africa. ''V. amygdalina'' typically grows to a height of . The leaves are elliptical and up to long. Its bark is rough. ''V. amygdal ...

'' (bitter leaf). It is prepared from groundnut which is mashed into a paste, usually termed as groundnut paste. When cooked, the groundnut is ashy pink in color. Groundnut soup is eaten with

eba Ẹ̀bà ( Yoruba) also known as Ebe or Pinon' (in Togo, Benin, and southern Ghana) is a staple swallow from Nigeria, Togo and Benin, also eaten in the West African sub-region and other African countries. The term èbà originates from Yoruba. ...

, banku,

kenkey Kenkey (also known as kɔmi, otim, kooboo or dorkunu) is a staple swallow food similar to sourdough dumplings from the Ga and Fante-inhabited regions of West Africa, usually served with pepper crudaiola and fried fish, soup or stew. Des ...

and so on. It is a delicacy that

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

and people in other African countries consume, such as in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. In Ghana, it is known as ''nkatenkwan'' in Akan language and "Azidetsi" in Ewe language.

Images

File:Ground nut soup.jpg, Garnished ground nut or peanut soup File:Fufu in groundnut soup with fish.jpg, Peanut soup with fufu and fish File:Latin American Peanut Soup.jpg, Latin American peanut soup

References

External links

Ghanaian groundnut soup – recipe

Nigerian groundnut soup - recipe
{{Taiwanese cuisine African soups Argentine cuisine Bolivian soups Ghanaian cuisine National dishes Nigerian soups Peanut dishes Peruvian soups Sierra Leonean cuisine Taiwanese soups Virginia cuisine Liberian cuisine

Images

See also

References

External links