Akara — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Crispy golden fritters made from a spiced black-eyed bean batter, deep-fried to a crunchy shell with a fluffy, savory interior.

Ingredients

2 cups black-eyed beans, soaked and peeled
1 small onion, chopped
2 scotch bonnet peppers
1 tsp ground crayfish
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Instructions

1 Soak beans for 2 hours, rub to remove skins, and rinse thoroughly.
2 Blend peeled beans with onion and scotch bonnet until thick and smooth — do not add too much water.
3 Whisk the batter vigorously by hand or with a mixer for 3-5 minutes to incorporate air.
4 Season with ground crayfish and salt. The batter should be thick enough to hold shape on a spoon.
5 Heat oil to 180°C (350°F). Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil and fry until deep golden, about 4-5 minutes.
6 Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

Did You Know?

Akara is known as "kosai" in the north of Nigeria and traveled to Brazil via the slave trade where it became "acarajé," now a UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage food.