Black Eyed Peas Fritters/ Akara/Accara

 Hope everybody has welcomed 2013 with great fun. We too had fun and welcomed New Year with delicious home cooked meal and a bottle of champagne. I hope everybody’s dream gets fulfilled this year. It is custom in southern part of America to eat black eyed peas, pork and greens on the first day of New-year. Eating black eyed peas are supposed to bring Prosperity throughout the year and greens will brings money, and pork brings positive motion.  Since I won’t eat pork, I skipped that part. I made blacked eyed peas fritters as tea time snack and spinach-rice for lunch. I was not fan of mustard greens so used spinach and it is well received green in my family. Last year too I made black eyed peas salad and I got my son in 2012.

There is another story behind this tradition, during the American civil war the Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, typically stripped the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock, and destroyed whatever they could not carry away. At that time, Northerners considered "field peas" (black eyed peas) and field corn suitable only for animal fodder, and did not steal or destroy them.

I was eyeing on the black eyed pea’s fritters for a while, and on New Year day, I thought, why I don’t make it. You need to plan ahead for this recipe; it is not just as easy as making a salad or sundal. I have grown up with black eyed peas in curries, sweet dishes or sundal but never tried fritters with it.

These fritters are called akara in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and akla or koosé in Ghana, Accara in Senegal. It also famous in rest of West Africa,  as binch akara, bean balls, kosai, koose, kose, and kwasi. It is commonly prepared at home for breakfast or snacks, or as an appetizer or side dish. Usually these fritters are served with spicy pepper relish.  They are also sold as fast-food by vendors on the street, in marketplaces, and at bus stations. The same recipe, with a very similar name, is also known in the Caribbean. In Brazil these fritters are called Acaraje in the northeastern state of Bahia, especially in city of Salvador influenced by African cuisine. They are sold mainly by street vendors and tourist favorite one.

I was curious, because, in southern part India, we convert every lentil/beans into fritters, then how come we don’t use black eyed peas in our fritters list. I found that yes it is made into fritters in Andhra Pradesh. It is called  Bobbarlu vadalu , alasandalu vada and Raayalseema specially, usually served with chicken gravy. However there they do not bother to remove the skin.

However I made fritters as Akara/Accra recipe. You need to soak the black eyed pea’s overnight and next morning there will be a tedious jobs waiting for you removing to the skin of each beans. I found this video of removing the skin is easy,  She is just mashing the beans with pestle and washing in the running water. She repeats two three times until you removed the entire beans. I have seen somebody saying that you just need to agitate beans or rub in between fingers; however it is not easy for me.

Once you removed the skin of black eyed peas, grind them into a fine paste using 1 and ½ tablespoon of water. Don’t try to add any water to make soggy. Then add salt, Habanero chili  peppers , chopped onion, garlic, ginger.  I don’t have Habanero chili peppers, so used green chili pepper and cumin seeds as extra flavoring. I was able to make 30 small ping pong sized fritters, served with coconut chutney. My princess enjoyed it with her Ketchup.  If you like deep fried fritters, then try this. It is really easy to put it together except for the part of removing the skin. This is going to stick around my kitchen for long time.

Here comes the recipe. 

Day before you planned to make fritters soak the dried peas for overnight. Next morning using pestle mash beans and remove the skins of each beans. Skin will be floating easily, strain them using a mesh strainer. 

Grind the skinless peas into a fine paste mix chopped onion, garlic, ginger, green chili and salt.

Heat oil to 375 F spoons or scoop a ping pong size of batter into oil, fry them for about 6-7 minutes or until it becomes golden brown, remove from the oil transfer to kitchen towel for excess oil removal.

Enjoy with any spicy relish, I served with coconut chutney and Ketchup

                                                       Print recipe from here

Black Eyed Peas Fritters/ Akara/Accara

Adapted from this recipe and this recipe

Prep Time    20 minutes + 8 hours of soaking time

Cook Time    45 minutes

Serves    30 ping pong sized fritters

        Ingredients:

1 Cup  Dried Black eyed peas

3/4 Cup chopped onion

1 Green chili

1 tablespoon chopped ginger

2 cloves of chopped garlic

1 teaspoon cumin seeds   

1/2  teaspoon of salt

11/2 tablespoon  water

4 Cups Canola Oil

How I made:

     Soak  dried black eyed peas for overnight.

   Next morning, using pestle mash the beans,  then wash in the running water so that skin will

floats freely in water strain and remove the skins of beans using a mesh strainer or hand.

Grind the skinless black eyed peas in a grinder using 1 ½ tablespoon of water.

In a medium bowl, to the ground batter  mix in chopped onion, garlic, ginger, green chili, salt and cumin seeds and set aside.

 In a thick bottom pan heat oil to 375 F, add a drop of batter to check oil is ready, if it is ready, dough will comes up  immediately. Then add ping-pong sized batter and fry for about  6-7 minutes  or until they become golden brown color, flipping in between.

  Using a slotted spoon, remove the fried fritters from oil and transfer to kitchen towel to remove                excess oil.

  Enjoy warm with spicy relish, I served with coconut chutney and Ketchup.

 Variations:

• If you want to make traditional instead of green chili use Habanero peppers and skip cumin seeds

 I am linking this delicious fritters to Favorite Recipes: Lentil/Legume/Beans Recipes hosted here

Gallery of Favorites hosted by Alea and April