AKARA-Black Eyed Peas
Akara, also known as Bean Cakes, Bean Balls, Bean Fritas, or Acarajé in Portuguese, is a Nigerian breakfast recipe made with beans. Yes, I put on the traditional food for luck: Black-eyed peas with a ham bone, mixed collard greens with spinach, chicken wings with Caribbean dipping sauce, and buttery corn kernels. I started a corn beef brisket for Saturday with potatoes. Let's have a Happy New Year.
HOME COOK RECIPE:
Black Eyed Peas
Here is your shopping list:
Ingredients
1 Pkg Dried Black Eyed Peas (or field peas, or cowpeas) - package size doesn't matter
Pork for seasoning: ham hocks, ham bone, or a large piece of ham
1 T salt (will need more)
1 T pepper
1 T cooking oil
1 T Sugar
Instructions
First, sort through the beans to ensure there are no stones. Place the sorted beans in a large mixing bowl or pot, and cover them completely with water, adding a few extra inches above the beans. Soak the beans overnight.
In the morning, drain the soaking water and transfer the beans to the pot where you will cook them. Add pork for seasoning, then cover the beans with fresh water, ensuring there's an additional few inches above the beans to prevent them from boiling dry.
Stir in all other seasonings, bringing the mixture to a boil before reducing the heat. Simmer the beans uncovered for several hours. After some time, remove the pork, shred it, and return it to the pot. Continue cooking until the beans are tender. The total cooking time will take at least three to four hours.
Making Akara- The Nigerian Way
Before frying Akara, remove the skins from the beans. For guidance on this process, refer to how to remove bean skins. It's important to avoid letting salt touch the beans until you are ready to fry them.
Salt is believed to destroy the leavening properties of beans, which prevents the batter from spattering during frying. To prepare the beans, soak them in water for 2 hours to ensure they become soft enough for your blender. If you’re using the heavy-duty grinders found in Nigerian markets, you won’t need to soak the beans for as long.
Cut the peppers and onions into your desired sizes.
When grinding the beans with your blender, use as little water as possible—just enough to allow the blades to move. Operators of heavy-duty grinders in Nigerian markets typically do not add any water when grinding beans for Akara. The less water you use during grinding, the more the batter will hold together while frying, which reduces spattering.
Additionally, do not add any other ingredients when grinding the beans for Akara. It is believed that adding other ingredients too early can decrease the ability of the ground bean particles to stick together.
Set some vegetable oil in the cooker to heat up. The oil should be at least 3 inches deep.
Put some of the ground beans into a mortar. This should be the quantity you can fry in one go.
Stir the bean puree with the pestle in a continuous circular motion. You need to apply some pressure so that you can energize the particles of the bean puree.
This stirring technique releases the gas that will act as a leavening agent to the bean particles, making them rise and somehow stick together. This will be like the yeast making the dough rise in Puff Puff, or what folding does to cake batter.
Keep stirring till the ground beans appear whiter and you can perceive their peculiar aroma.
Add some water till you get the consistency shown in the video below.
Check to make sure the oil is hot. The oil should be hot enough to sizzle but not too hot. If too hot, the Akara will spatter as soon as the bean batter hits the oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the onions and pepper to the bean puree in the mortar. Stir well.
Add salt to your taste and stir again. Salt should always be added just before scooping the bean mixture into the oil. If salt stays in the mixture for extended periods of time, it will destroy the leavening property of the beans. This property is what makes the Akara float in the oil and prevents splatter during frying.
To fry the Akara, scoop the mixture with a tablespoon and slowly pour it into the oil. Dipping the spoon a little bit into the oil helps reduce spatter. Fry the underside till brown and flip to fry the top side too. When the Akara balls are brown all over, remove and place in a sieve lined with paper towels.
Important points to note when making Akara
Follow these, and your Akara will turn out great.
Use freshly peeled beans.
Use a very small quantity of water when grinding.
Smooth the mix with a mortar and pestle before frying.
Add salt just before frying.
Serve Akara with Akamu, Custard, Agidi, or Bread. The best bread to eat in Akara is oven-fresh, hot, and stretchy bread-like Agege Bread. lol!
Making Akara may seem like rocket science, but with practice, you will perfect this recipe. If you do not get it right the first time, try again. Everybody has the same first-time experience with making Akara.
