Nigerian Akara with a twist

by admin
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staffed akara 8

There’s Nigerian akara, and then there’s Nigerian akara with a twist and that twist is a filling. First, let’s address akara, brown bean or black-eyed pea fritters. This is a popular food in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa. They also made their way to Brazil, specifically to the Salvador in Bahia, Brazil. Why? Because food travels when people travel and Salvador is documented to be point of entry to the ‘New World; where many of the slaves from West Africa were taken to first before being dispersed across the Americas. They took their food and culture with them and held on to what they could. Now, in Nigeria akara is eaten mostly for breakfast along with pap, corn meal porridge or with a stew. Some even create an akara burger by placing it between two slices of bread.

Akara is a street food and a joy to eat

To prepare akara, the beans are soaked, skins removed, then they are blended with spices and deep fried. It’s that simple really. In Nigeria, Lagos specifically you will find street sellers frying them by the side of the road early in the morning or carrying them around in glass boxes for sale.

Let’s have stuffed akara, shall we?

While there are a number of ways to eat akara, how about stuffing them? While Spring cleaning I came across my masa pan (aka ebelskiver pan) – masa is a fermented rice cake originating from Northern Nigeria, and trust I have not used this pan since I made the last batch of masa featured in my latest ebook, The Many Ways to Eat Rice. The thought crossed my mind, ‘why not use it to make stuffed akara?’ And, that’s all she wrote. I decided to stuff the akara with chopped mushrooms, walnuts and onions. To say these were divine, is an understatement.

Note for a traditional palm oil flavour, you should fry these in red unrefined palm oil. As with all other recipes on this platform you will find that this stuffed akara recipe is;

  • Plant-based
  • Vegan
  • Gluten free
  • Dairy free
  • Soy free
  • Easy to make
  • Uses simple ingredients

If you do give this recipe a try, do share on social media and tag #pffplate. It’s great to see all your amazing recreations. Enjoy!

staffed akara 8
Print Recipe

Stuffed Akara - Bean Fritters

Serves: 4 Prep Time: Cooking Time: Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

2 cups Nigerian honey/brown beans (or black eyed peas) 4 cups peeled

½  cup water

½ medium red onion

1 - 2 scotch bonnet (or habanero peppers)

2 tsp salt

unrefined palm oil (or avocado oil) for frying

 

Filling

150g button mushrooms

½ small onion

¼ cup walnuts

2 garlic cloves

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Small bunch fresh basil leaves

Instructions

Note: Prepare in advance

  • Soak the beans in a bowl of water overnight or for at least 8 hours 
  • Wash the beans and peel off all the skins. These should come off quite easily.

Filling

  • Finely dice the mushrooms and garlic, chop the walnuts and basil, and crush the garlic. 
  • In a pan on medium heat pour in the oil, once it heats through add in the onions and saute for 1 - 2minutes. 
  • Add in the mushrooms, walnuts, garlic, salt and pepper and continue to saute until any liquid from the mushrooms dries up. Add in the basil leaves, stir through and then remove the filling from the heat

Akara

  • Dice the onions into cubes along with the the scotch bonnet peppers
  • Pour the cleaned beans into a high speed blender with as little water as possible and blend until smooth. This may need to be done in batches, depending on the strength of your blender.
  • Pour the blended beans in a bowl, cover with cling film and set aside to rest in a warm place, such as an unlit oven for 30 minutes to 1 hour to rest. This will allow the natural sugar molecules in beans to act like yeast, helping to increase the fluffiness of the akara
  • After resting the bean batter, pour it back into the blender and blend for another 2 minutes for two to three more times until extremely smooth, very light and fluffy
  • Pour the batter back into a mixing bowl and add in the diced onions, chopped peppers, and salt. Mix all the ingredients through until well combined
  • Place the masa pan (or ebelskiver pan) on low to medium heat and pour the palm oil into each section of the pan
  • Once the oil is hot (if using palm oil it may smoke a little - this is expected) spoon in the batter into each pot half way full. Let the akara cook, once the bottom is cooked add the filling to the middle with a teaspoon, then pour in more batter to cover the filling. Let it cook a few more minutes then using two toothpicks, turn them over
  • Add more oil to each of the sections if needed, this may be a little as a sprinkle. The akara should be a rich golden colour. You may flip them over back to the first side for a minute before removing the from the pan
  • Place them on a paper towel lined plate to drain any excess oil. They are best served hot.

Notes

1. The filling is optional. 2. The batter should be similar in texture to pancake batter 3. If deep frying try to use as little water as possible in blending the beans

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