Brazilian Acarajé

A masterpiece of flavours and textures from crust bean fritter shell to soft, bready interior, creamy and nutty vatapa, fresh green tomato salsa and prawns

Preparing the beans

Soak the black-eyed beans in water for 5 - 10 minutes to soften the skin then pulse - with water - in a blender or food processor , for a couple of minutes to crack the beans so the skins can come off easily

To remove the skins, pour into a bowl and add some more water. Rub between your palms - the skins should rise to the surface. Pour them out and into a sieve or strainer and repeat till all the skins are discarded and you’re left with the creamy beans

Substitutions: You can use soaked yellow split lentils instead of the beans, bean flour or lentil/ gram flour

PREP TIME: 1 hour COOK TIME: 30 minutes SERVES: 4

Ingredients

1 cup black-eyed beans, sorted and stones/bit removed (or 150g bean or gram flour)

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

½ fresh habanero pepper (or to taste)

½ teaspoon salt

Dendê/ palm oil, to deep fry

Directions

In a food processor - because there’s very little to no water in the recipe - blend the cleaned beans or soaked lentils with 1/2 cup of water, chopped onions and fresh chili pepper till a smooth, thick paste forms. 

You may need to stir the mixture around and pulse till you get a smooth paste. The batter should be of slightly thinner consistency than dips like hummus. If it is too thick, add more water by the tablespoonful and watch. This is because you want the fritters to hold their shape when fried. 

If using lentil flour, blend onions and chili pepper and mix with the flour and enough water to make a thick paste. Continue with next steps

Add the salt to the batter and stir well to aerate the mixture - feel free to use a whisk. Set aside why you prepare the oil

Heat up oil in a pot or deep pan - at least 2 - 3 inches on medium heat. When hot, scoop the batter into the oil. You’ll make large fritters - use a cooking spoon and gently lower the fritter batter into the hot oil, and continue till the pan is full.

Once the bottom of the fritters are brown - about 2-3 minutes, flip and let the other side brown then, remove with a slotted spoon and leave to drain in a strainer lined with kitchen tissue.

Serve with tomato salsa, vatapa and cararu

#NewNigerianKitchen: top with finely chopped peanuts and cashew nuts