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    Home » Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner Recipes » Akara | How to make Nigerian Black Eyed Bean Fritters

    Akara | How to make Nigerian Black Eyed Bean Fritters

    Published: Mar 16, 2015 · Modified: Nov 5, 2020 by Srivalli · 12 Comments

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    We are starting the 3rd Week of BM#50 and I will be doing the theme "Pick one Category, do 3 or Do one from each category". Under this, I had listed three different pages from the wiki and decided to do it myself too. When I was going through the list, I decided I would opt to do one from each category. I had a great time reading through the different dishes listed out and striking out those that I can't make myself. The idea was to push and do new things and not to settle down with something already known to me. In fact, I was looking more towards non-Indian stuff than anything Indian. However, when that's the case, it so happens that most end up being nonveg-based. Having decided to do one from each, the task becomes much easier to narrow down.

    For today I will be doing from the List of Snack Foods list on Wiki. After going back and forth, I decided on the first one. Akara is a snack dish, or rather from what I read, is also more of a breakfast dish in Nigeria. If I am to be offered this for my breakfast, trust me, I would never skip my breakfast ever! I have always enjoyed the Mirapakaya Bajji with Uggani when I visit my SIL and totally love fried fritters anytime!

    I am not sure how closely this is related to our Indian cuisine, in particular to Andhra cuisine. For one, Akara is a deep-fried fritter or vada as we can call, from black-eyed bean. Alasanda as we call in Telugu is very common in our cuisine. The famous Alasanda Vada is made with this ground bean with green chilies and onions.
    Coming back to this snack, I remember Suma making this, and I researched further on this to see how it is made.
    Deciding that the weekend would be the best bet to make it, I ensure I had the dried beans in my pantry. After soaking it overnight, I got on to the task of rubbing off the outer skin. On seeing me do that, Athamma
    came to ask what I was up to.
    Can you believe my shock when she told me that her mom used to do the same when they were kids? She went to on say that she stopped doing it as it seems too much of a hassle, rubbing those skin off. It was always done that way, rubbing the soaked bean to remove the outer skin, later grinding it to a very smooth batter along with onions and chilies. Imagine that we have moved forward from that method and this one is still cherished in some parts of the world!

    The recipe called for ripe chilies and I was happy knowing that Amma had saved some, knowing I might always tend to make some dish with the ripe chilies. I have a small pestle and mortar, which I used to peel off the skin, however used my mixer to grind it with onions. It turns out to be spongy and pillow in the middle and crispy on top. Athamma was so happy remembering her childhood days through this dish.All in all this dish was well received and yes we totally Indianian it by serving it with Murunga Sambar. How is that!

    This delicious deep-fried snack is also called the Nigerian Bean Cake.

     

     

     

    AkaraIngredients Needed:

    Black eyed peas - 1 cup
    Onion (chopped) - 1 medium
    Ripe Chilies/ Green Chilies - 2 -3 as per spice.

    Oil for frying
    Salt to taste

    How to make the Akara

    Wash and soak your beans overnight in enough water. Change the water a couple of times and in pestle and mortar slightly rub on the beans.

    Just apply enough pressure by pounding it to make sure the skin peels off. You will have to change waters for the light outer skin to wash away.

    Once your bean is all peeled off, drain and using your mixer, grind to a very smooth batter. In the final stage add chopped onions and chilies. Blend once again.

    Just before frying add salt.

    Heat a Kadai with enough oil, using a spoon, scoop down spoonful into hot oil and let it get cooked. Simmer for initial frying as the fritters need to be cooked inside.

    Then turn over and cook on both sides.

    Drain on a kitchen towel and serve with ketchup!

    Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#

    Recipe

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    Akara | How to make Nigerian Black Eyed Bean Fritters

    Cuisine Nigerian
    Dish Type Deep Fried Dishes
    Author Srivalli
    Tried this recipe?Mention @cooking4all or tag #cooking4all!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Srividhya says

      March 16, 2015 at 7:15 pm

      Healthy fritters. I use black eye peas only for sambhar. Should try this too

      Reply
    2. vaishali sabnani says

      March 17, 2015 at 12:47 am

      Valli I remember learning a similar dish from my cousin who has lived in Nigeria and it tastes real good. I am sure the fried version must be delicious and interesting serving with sambar:))

      Reply
    3. Ruchi Indu says

      March 17, 2015 at 6:59 am

      very interesting fritters... I didnt know vada recipes are famous all over the world..

      Reply
    4. Nalini's Kitchen says

      March 17, 2015 at 1:16 pm

      Sounds interesting,sounds like alasanda vadas...

      Reply
    5. Padmajha PJ says

      March 17, 2015 at 6:07 pm

      It was really amazing to read the similarities in cuisine!! And yes since we are pressed for time, we tend to skip certain steps!! These fritters look tempting Srivalli..

      Reply
    6. Varadas Kitchen says

      March 18, 2015 at 10:36 am

      Nice reward for trying out new dishes. It must have been a pleasure to find the connections.

      Reply
    7. Annu Swamy says

      March 19, 2015 at 5:28 am

      Its interesting to know that as far as food is concerned we have similarities with other countries. It sounds like 'Ulundu Vadai' to me. Very nicely presented.

      Reply
    8. Sandhya Ramakrishnan says

      March 19, 2015 at 11:36 pm

      So many similarities between cuisines. I saw this in Suma's place and was so tempted to eat some and now I am seeing yours 🙂

      Reply
    9. Priya Srinivasan says

      March 20, 2015 at 8:52 am

      Such a task valli, removing the skin!! but it looks totally awesome,worth the effort i believe!!

      Reply
    10. Jayanthi says

      March 20, 2015 at 9:12 pm

      Nice fritters....it looks so yummy. You are really tempting me to make some right now.

      Reply
    11. Priya Suresh says

      March 21, 2015 at 9:07 am

      one of my recent favourite, loved munching this deep fried bean fritters..

      Reply
    12. Pavani N says

      March 23, 2015 at 3:08 pm

      Peeling the skins should be a communal task where everyone has a good time chatting and gossiping. If only one person has to do it, then it will definitely make you go bonkers 🙂 I had my mom help me when I made these for the mega BM 😉
      The fritters look so fluffy & yummy!!

      Reply

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