N for Nigeria ~ Akara

Event: BM #44 , Around the World (A - Z series)  
Choice of Country: The Federal Republic of Nigeria
Capital City: Abuja  
Official Language: English

Nigeria is located in West Africa and is often referred to as "The giant of Africa" because of it's large population and economy. The name "Nigeria" comes from the Niger River, that runs through the country. Nigeria is inhabited by more than 500 ethnic groups and obviously it's cuisine consists of dishes coming from them. Wikipedia mentions that the cuisine uses spices, herbs along with palm oil or ground nut oil to create rich flavored sauces and spicy soups. Their feasts are lavish and colorful. They have a variety of street foods that is often barbecued or deep fried like this akara for instance.  

Akara are deep fried black-eyed pea fritters from Nigeria. I was contemplating whether to try these or not as black-eyed fritters / alasanda vadalu are a common street food in my home state, Andhra in India. However after going through the recipe, the method sounded slightly different than the standard Indian version and decided to give it a try. The black-eyed peas are soaked overnight and then skinned before proceeding to the grinding part. I have peeled my share of avarekalu when I was young but still the process of peeling off the skins is tedious. Employ your family members for the job during TV watching session. :) Coming back to recipe, skinned beans are ground into paste adding very little / no water. Then red chilli and onion are added and pounded in a wooden mortar and pestle until smooth. Then spoonfuls of batter are dropped into hot oil and fried until golden brown through out. I didn't have any variety of fresh red chilli on hand and so used green chillies instead. I ground the beans first in the food processor and then added onion, green chillies and salt and processed just until they were combined. (Recipe source: Here)


Ingredients:
1 cup black eyed peas
3 - 4 chillies, chopped finely (the original recipe uses 2 fresh red chillies.)
1 big onion or 2 small onions; chopped fine
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:
* Soak black eyed peas overnight and then peel off the skins. Grind the beans into a smooth batter, adding water just enough to facilitate grinding.

* Add the chillies and onions and grind again until they are just combined. Stir in salt just before frying.
* Meanwhile, heat oil for deep frying. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and fry on low flame until they turn golden brown through out. Serve warm.

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