As you can tell I really love beans. I love beans and rice, moin moin which is a steamed bean pudding, pakoras and akaras which are bean fritters. There are vadas too which are also made out of beans and different lentils. The vadas are Indian and I am going to make a post of these one day inshallah. Pakora is Indopak which means they are both Indian and Pakistani. Today we are going to deal with akara which are made by either grinding African honey beans or blackeye peas or using bean flour.
If you do not want the headache of pealing beans, there are unpeeled beans that are being sold in African stores or you can just go ahead and use unpeeled beans which is up to you. I used the bean flour that says on the package which says use for making akara or koose as the people from Ghana calls it. Everyone else in West Africa calls it akara.
These get eaten with Tom Brown, pap either yellow or white, Hausa koko or custard. It is depending on what you like and your taste. I also drink Goya malta light or another type of non alcoholic brew which I really adore.
If you are using honey beans or blackeye peas, wash then add 1 pinch of baking soda and soak overnight in the fridge. Make sure the water is covering the beans. The next day drain and keep the reserve water. Add to blender and the beans either 1 cup of peeled or unpeeled beans and grind add 1/4 cup or more of the reserve water for ease of blending.
There should be a batter type consistancy when blended. Add 1 onion or shallot or 6 green onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 small piece of ginger peeled, 1 habenero or scotch bonnet if using and blend again. Pour batter in a mixing bowl and add 1 pinch of baking powder and 1/4 cup of bean flour for binding agent. Make sure the batter is lump free. Also you can add 1 pinch of either African yellow chili powder or red chili powder instead of the habenero or scotch bonnet. Add 1 bullion cube or 3 pinches of vegtea seasoning, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma.
For bean flour only option add 2 cups of bean flour. This one is blackeye pea flour only, this time not besan or chickpea flour. Add 1/4 cup of water for ease of blending and add all of the above ground beans mixture I mentioned above.^^^^^^^
The rest is purely optional such as the mixed herbs are 1 pinch each of basil or sent leaf and thyme, watercress leaves, mint 3 curry leaves chopped 1 tiny dab of tomato paste if you are not using canned fish in tomato sauce only. If you are skip it, you can also use any type of fish and shellfish in the batter too to fry that is crumbled, such as the fish in brine and oil too. If you are using these add these before you add anymore water.
Also make sure the canned fish is pretty well mashed and mixed with the akara batter. One can of Zabiha halal corned beef or zabiha halal lunch meat crumbled and added also is great. Do not forget this is for both options too such as adding 5 smoked dried shrimps, 1 pinch each of crayfish and or boni bonga fish powder, 2 sliced chicken eggs or 5 quail eggs hard boiled and sliced. This is also a wonderful coating for fish like butterfish. Let batter sit for 4 minutes and stir. If you want to know how much fish to use it is 1 can of fish of your choice like tuna, sardines, mackeral, salmon, etc.
Add 1/4 cup of corn, peanut or canola oil to cast iron skillet on high heat and shallow fry. Add by teaspoonfuls in batches of 3 to 4 at a time until all of the batter is gone. Drain on a plate or a bowl lined with paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Also make sure your akara is golden brown before you remove it.
I will tell you how I wanted my akara. The one in the featured image is made of just bean flour. I added thyme, basil, vegtea seasoning, African yellow chili powder, titus sardines including the oil for flavor, crayfish boni bonga fish powder, garlic, ginger, green onions and smoked dried shrimp.
This all depends on taste and what you want in your akara. If you want plain akara this is fine too. Enjoy!!!!!!
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