Akara recipe

Bean fritters whose lightness comes from two hand gestures: skinning the black-eyed peas and whipping air into the batter before frying in red palm oil.

2 hours and 50 minutesmedium6 ingredients

Ingredients

• 300 g black-eyed peas
• 1 onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 500 ml red palm oil

How to make Akara

1. Soak 300 g of black-eyed peas in cold water for at least 2 hours, overnight is better.
2. Rub the peas hard between your palms under running water and rinse again and again until every skin has floated off and the water runs clear. Unpeeled beans give a grey, heavy akara.
3. Blend the skinned peas with 1 onion, 1 red bell pepper and 1 scotch bonnet, using as little water as possible, about 60 ml. The batter must stay thick enough to hold on a spoon.
4. Tip the batter into a bowl and whip it in fast circles with a wooden spoon or a whisk for a full 5 minutes, until it pales and turns foamy. This trapped air is the whole point; a batter that is not whipped fries flat.
5. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt only at the last moment, since salt slackens the batter.
6. Heat 500 ml of red palm oil to 170 °C in a deep pan.
7. Drop in heaped tablespoons of batter and fry 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until the balls are deep golden and puffed.
8. Drain on paper and eat hot, with pepper sauce or alongside akassa.

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