Nutrition
Wrewre eloNkwan (mn soup)
• Wrewre soup
Ingredients
– Two medium-sized hard chicken
One small lemon
-Three cups of wrewre (melon seeds)
-Two medium-sized onions
-Four medium-sized tomatoes
-Two tablespoonful of tomato paste
-Six gloves of fresh garlic
-100 grammes of fresh ginger
-One small scotch bonnet pepper
-One sprig of rosemary
A handful of thyme
A handful of sage
Water – about three litres
Salt to taste
Method
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 together. Use a little bit of water to help with the blending.
Place the chicken in your soup pot and add salt to taste, add the spice blends and the blended onion mixture.
Stir and let it season for about 30 minutes. Also add the rest of the onions, tomatoes, tomato paste and pepper.
Also, slice the remaining ginger and add.
Now prep the (Wrewre) by toasting
it in the oven or dry toasting on the hob.
Before toasting, do check and remove any remaining debris found in it.
When toasting in the oven, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and toast for about 30 minutes. Use a wide oven tray to help spread out the Wrewre for even toasting. Also, stir the (Wrewre) 15minutes into the toasting time to ensure an even toasting.
Start steaming the chicken including everything else in the pot. You may need to add more water to help the chicken to tenderise 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 process a couple of times until the water becomes clear and non-milky. Then throw away the chaff. Use about three litres of water for this process.
Now using a finer sieve, re-strain the milky solution a couple of times to remove as much chaff 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 with salt.
Blend the onion, tomatoes and pepper. Add it into the soup pot, cover and let it simmer for about 10 minutes until a light layer of oil is formed.
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 it is cooked to perfection. This process could take an hour, depending on your heat settings.
Serve the soup hot with fufu, boiled rice, rice balls, boiled yam, boiled potato, boiled ripe plantains or bread or can be eaten on its own.
Source: Puls.com.gh
Soya beans is a highly nutritious plant-based food with several health benefits:
-Rich source of protein
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-Helpful for vegetarians and vegans as an alternative to animal protein.
-Supports muscle growth and repair.
– Heart Health
-Helps lower cholesterol levels
-Contains healthy unsaturated fats and fibre that support cardiovascular health
-Can be part of a heart-friendly diet
-Bone health
-Provides calcium (in fortified soy products), magnesium, and protein
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-Contains natural compounds called isoflavones (phytoestrogens)
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-Supports weight management
-High protein and fibre content can increase fullness and reduce hunger
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-Good for blood sugar control
-Has a low glycemic index
-Protein and fibre can help stabilise blood sugar levels
Ghana has nutrition policies. Ghana has nutrition targets. Ghana has nutrition programmes spread across multiple ministries and dozens of implementing partners.
What Ghana does not have is a single, empowered body responsible for leading, coordinating, and holding all this together. That is the gap a National Nutrition Council would fill, and stakeholders are calling for one now.
The case for a council
At a stakeholder engagement convened under the Nourish Ghana project in 2025, participants proposed the establishment of a National Nutrition Council to provide effective leadership and a governance framework for addressing malnutrition in Ghana. The meeting, which brought together policymakers, development partners, civil society organisations, and the media, highlighted a fundamental problem: nutrition responsibilities are fragmented across various ministries. Without a dedicated coordination body, efforts are duplicated, accountability is diffuse, and nutrition consistently loses out when budgets are tight.
The proposal echoes a model used in several countries that have made the fastest progress against malnutrition. Nigeria’s National Council on Nutrition, for example, recently pledged $107 million at the 2025 N4G Summit, a level of coordinated ambition that Ghana has struggled to match.
Ghana does have existing coordination structures worth acknowledging. The Scaling Up Nutrition Cross-Sectoral Planning Group (CSPG), established in 2012, was set up to harmonise planning, implementation, and monitoring of nutrition actions across sectors. It has produced real gains. But the challenge has been institutionalising those gains beyond project cycles, and analysts have called for an elevated national coordination body with presidential oversight to ensure genuine cross-sector accountability. A National Nutrition Council would go further, providing the dedicated financing and convening authority that the CSPG, as currently structured, does not have.
What a Council would do
A National Nutrition Council would provide political oversight and coordination across all sectors involved in nutrition, health, agriculture, education, social protection, and finance. It would track Ghana’s nutrition commitments, hold ministries accountable for delivery, and ensure that nutrition budgets are protected and spent effectively. Most importantly, it would give nutrition a permanent seat at the table where national development decisions are made.
The Time Is Now
Ghana made 10 commitments at the 2025 N4G Paris Summit. Translating those commitments into results requires a governance structure that does not currently exist. Establishing a National Nutrition Council is not a bureaucratic exercise. It is the institutional foundation without which Ghana’s nutrition ambitions will remain promises on paper. Leaders must act on this proposal without delay.
Feature article by Women, Media and Change under its Nourish Ghana: Advocating for Increased Leadership to Combat Malnutrition project
