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Love is in my Tummy

Plant-based flavor

October 6, 2013 By Tina Dawson 21 Comments

Akara -Nigerian black-eyed pea fritters

Akara Nigerian Fritters

Akara – Nigerian Black-eyed pea fritters are tiny scoops of mildly flavoured bean dough, fried to perfection! It is a popular Senegal snack, usually served with Red Kosayi – the local chilli sauce made with red bell peppers, long red chillies, vinegar, olive oil, sugar and salt.

You know the feeling, when you’re in a foreign land and you chance upon a street food vendor or a restaurant that carries a delicacy from back home? That’s the feeling I get when I’m watching international food shows on TV and there’s a recipe from the other side of the world that is so similar to something from India! Languages and cultures fascinate me. We’re all like seeds, scattered by the wind. We took root in different places, but deep down, there’s something that connects us all, and I love finding that connection through food and language!

I was watching Food Safari on the Fox Traveller yesterday afternoon, and there was this particular episode on African food being aired. So many wonderful recipes were being showcased and along comes something that was so similar to the South Indian Vada!

Akara Nigerian Fritters

So here you go. I hope you try this, it’s pretty amazing to eat something that is popular in another continent, but tastes so close to home!

You begin by soaking black-eyed peas overnight. This will soften both the skin and the bean, making it easier to skin on the morrow.

Black-eyed peas soaked

De-skin the Black-eyed peas by rubbing them between the palm of your hands vigorously. This is truly the hardest part of this recipe, simply because it is time consuming. So I suggest you do the de-skining during the afternoon, after a nice lunch, and serve these up at tea-time. Every now and then, wash the skins out and start again. I recommend watching this video to know how.

Some say it takes just 20 minutes, but it took me about 2 hours to de-skin the soaked beans. I’d probably get better with practice, but if I were you, I’d factor in the time.

Black-eyed Peas Skinned collage

Drain the skinned black-eyed peas and grind them to a thick, smooth paste, adding as little water as necessary.

Grinding skinned akara

You can refrigerate this batter for a couple of days if you want, but once you add the flavours and salt, it’s best fried immediately.

Sit the ground batter for 30 minutes. You’ll notice that the batter gets somehow ‘fluffy’ in this time.

Akara batter

Stir in the chopped vegetables – I added onion, jalapenos, grated ginger, curry leaves, chilli and salt to taste.

Akara batter flavouring

Deep fry on medium heat until golden brown! If it’s too hot, the outside will brown before the insides cook. If it’s not hot enough, then the fritter drinks too much oil. Drain on paper towels and serve hot!

Akara 3

Enjoy the gorgeous, crisp exterior and the incredibly soft, mildly spiced inside.

Akara 4

Akara Fritters

Created by Tina Dawson on August 10, 2016

Akara Nigerian Fritters

  • Prep Time:2h 40m
  • Cook Time:20m
  • Total Time:3h
  • Serves: 4
  • Yield: About 20 fritters

Ingredients

  • 3/4 c black-eyed peas, soaked overnight
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, chopped
  • 1 red chilli (optional)
  • 1 tsp. ginger, grated
  • 2 curry leaves
  • Salt, to taste
  • Oil, to fry

Instructions

  1. Skin the black-eyed peas by rubbing them firmly between your fingers. When you flood the bowl with water, the skin floats to the top. Drain out the skin and repeat until only white legume-like insides remain.
  2. Drain the skinned black-eyed peas and grind to a smooth paste adding as little water as possible.
  3. Heat oil in a small pan, enough to deep-fry.
  4. Stir in the chopped onion, jalapenos, chilli, ginger, curry leaves and salt. Once combined, it must be fried immediately. You can refrigerate unflavored batter (nothing mixed into it) for a couple of days.
  5. Drop spoonfuls of batter into hot oil and cook on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.
  6. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.
  • Print
Akara Pin

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Filed Under: All Recipes, Appetizers, Breakfast, Cuisines, Nigerian, Snacks, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: Appetizers, black-eyed peas, curry leaves, Indian, jalapenos, Snacks, Vegan, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Holly says

    October 26, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    Years late to the party here! I followed your recipe to the letter and these were SO DELICIOUS! Thanks! I’ll be making them again for sure. x

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      October 28, 2020 at 11:18 pm

      Thank you so very much, Holly! I’m glad you liked it!

      Reply
  2. Pongodhall says

    July 8, 2019 at 3:38 am

    I don’t do deep fried so I tend to use appe/paniyaram – I find lightly fry greasy too and Oven dries it out but my cast iron appe pan seems to do a lot of things just right. What do you think?

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      July 9, 2019 at 7:08 pm

      I say go for it! I don’t see why it shouldn’t work!

      Reply
  3. Rox says

    April 2, 2018 at 6:17 pm

    For the peeling of the beans, you can put a handful at a time on a chopping board and use a large wooden spoon or pot to crush the beans. The skin will come off more easily and your hands won’t get so pruny. Using this method, I am able to peel the beans in about 20 minutes. When I used to rub them with my hands, it would take 2 hours like you.

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      April 3, 2018 at 10:35 am

      Really! That’s brilliant! Thanks for sharing! <3

      Reply
  4. Willie says

    February 3, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    Thanks you for your Cameroon Ankara recipes

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      February 8, 2018 at 9:15 am

      I’m so glad you liked it, Willie!

      Reply
  5. Alice says

    December 9, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    I’m delighted! Here in Brazil we have the Acarajé that is made with the same beans and the same way, but the dough becomes more dense and we use grated onion instead. To fill the fritters, we used Vatapá, okra, dried and fresh prawns and a very spicy pepper. I love!

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      December 11, 2017 at 5:38 pm

      That sounds absolutely delicious, Alice! I am so glad I now have another variation to look forward to.

      Reply
  6. Diana Johnson says

    August 11, 2016 at 1:29 pm

    These look delicious! I love all the vegetables you added.

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      August 11, 2016 at 5:11 pm

      Thanks a lot Diana! It was delicious!

      Reply
  7. Vicky @ Avocado Pesto says

    August 11, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    These sound delicious! Also looove discovering new street foods or any kind of food to try and I absolutely must watch that Food Safari show — had never heard of it : )) Who knew food from Senegal could be similar to food from India?!

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      August 11, 2016 at 5:09 pm

      Right! I was so surprised too! Food never ceases to amaze me!

      Reply
  8. Mica @ Let's Taco Bout It Blog says

    August 11, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    Oh my gosh! Fritters! Are my favorite! I love the color and brightness of these fritters. Ginger is a great flavor to add to fritters. My other half would love this!

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      August 11, 2016 at 5:12 pm

      Then you should make this immediately! It’s incredibly delicious!

      Reply
  9. Christine | Vermilion Roots says

    August 11, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    Hey Tina, I love this recipe. Never thought of using black-eyed peas in fritters before. Can’t wait to try! 🙂

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      August 11, 2016 at 12:31 pm

      You’ll love this Christine. If you’ve had South Indian Vadas in Malaysia, these are just like that!

      Reply
  10. Bintu - Recipes From A Pantry says

    August 11, 2016 at 11:47 am

    I love the flavours you have added to the fritters, bet they are so tasty

    Reply
    • Tina Dawson says

      August 11, 2016 at 12:06 pm

      They really are Bintu!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Spotlight: Vegan African Food – Frugal Vegan says:
    May 31, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    […] Akara Fritters […]

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Hi! I'm Tina - the human behind all the content you see on this blog. Welcome to my little corner of the internet where I create flavorful and unique plant-based recipes.

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