Akara is a Nigerian fritter made from beans, also known as bean cake. It's a popular street food and breakfast meal.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups dry beans
- Vegetable Oil for frying
- 1.5 onions
- Scotch Bonnet Peppers (or red bell peppers)
- 1 Bouillon cube (optional and any flavor)
- Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
- Soak the beans to loosen the skins
- Using a food processor or by hand with a strainer, you can lightly toss the beans to get the skins off.
- Once the skins are all off you can transfer the beans to a blender and blend the beans with just enough water to make a semi-thick batter.
- In a separate blender grind up the onions and peppers.
- Transfer the batter to a bowl and blend it up using a mixer (hand or stand) for 10-15 minutes to give it some air.
- Mix the beans with the pepper mixture.
- Add in some salt and the bouillon cube (dissolved in water)
- Heat oil for frying
- Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil
- Fry until golden brown
- Drain on paper towels or in a colander
NOTES
- Akara can be made with black-eyed peas, brown beans, white beans, or honey beans. Honey beans are the most common type of bean used to make akara.
- Scotch Bonnet peppers are optional and however many you'd like. They're very hot so it's up to you. You could also use Habanero or Red Bell peppers instead.
- While some people add bouillon cubes to akara for extra flavor, authentic akara is usually seasoned with salt and other basic ingredients.
- A mini chopper works great for blending up the peppers.
