Nigerian Akara
The quintessential Nigerian Saturday morning breakfast - Akara, a bean fritter, With soft white bread? No better duo.
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
Nigerian Akara
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
Vegetable oil, to deep fry
Directions
In a food processor or blender, process cleaned beans or soaked lentils with 1/2 cup of water, chopped onions and fresh chilli pepper till a smooth, thick paste (like porridge) 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 because you want the fritters to hold their shape when fried.
If using lentil flour, blend onions and chilli 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 - use a teaspoon for small fritters and a tablespoon for larger ones. 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.
If you want to keep them warm, place in an oven set to
Serve with bread
#NewNigerianKitchen version - make a sandwich with pawpaw salsa and lettuce
