Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Acarajé - Black Eyed Pea Fritters from Brazil

These are simple fritters that are original from the state Bahia, from Northeast Brazil.The cuisine of that region is mainly a mix of African,Indian and Portuguese.These fritters are an excellent example of African influence on Brazil cuisine.It was taken to Brazil by the Nigerian slaves who went there and it is a popular street food in Brazil,Nigeria and Ghana.If you remember correctly I had earlier made black eyed pea fritters that were from Africa.Acarajé (ah-kara-JEH) are similar and I adapted it from here. Though they are fritters only, the way they are made is a bit time consuming and tests your patience.
Ingredients:
Black Eyed Peas: 1 cup
Onion: 1 small size quartered
Garlic: 1-2 small cloves
Salt : as per taste

Peanut Oil: for deep frying

Preparation:
Soak black eyed peas for atleast 24 hours to soften it. Wash in several waters stirring with your fingers so that as much skin can be removed as possible.I soaked for almost 3 days and washed 20-25 times.But still only could remove the skin of 3/4th of peas and the remaining were there in the batter and can be seen in the pics as black spots.

After removing the skin,grind the peas in a blender adding,onion,garlic and salt in batches if needed. I didnot add water while grinding. The water in the wet peas will facilitate this along with the salt added. You are supposed to have a smooth batter,but few beans(peas) did escape until I found them while frying. :(

Pour the batter in a bowl and with an electric beater or wooden spoon,beat the batter so that it incorporates air and increases in volume.The aeration is supposed to make the final fritter feel light.

With an appropriate scoop or spoon or ladle or hand, scoop up handful of batter and deep fry in hot peanut oil,in batches till golden brown.Make sure the oil is on medium-high heat as the insides have to to be cooked as well.Again,those familiar with vada will know how to go about with black eyed peas vadas er fritters.


This is usually served stuffed with or along with shrimp,shrimp sauce or stew or in my case with simple tomato sauce.This delectable fritters are off to AWED:Brazil at Sara's,an event by DK.

The acarajés were used as in places of Worship of the Candomblé religion in Brazil and thus can be described as the Food of Gods. The fritters are delish and truly fit for Gods and also Foodie Gods who read this. :)

I was making tomato -onion salad and thought onions will look nice when stuffed inside.


 
                                 

12 Comments:

Finla said...

They look absloutley delicious.

Open Book said...

Nice!

Priya Suresh said...

Crispy black eyed peas fritters makes me drool...feel like grabbing some..

DK said...

A rose by any other name wud smell just as sweet. Akara is my fav. and I can vouch for these yummy fritters! YUM! I just wish I had the inclination now to make these :( Its raining here :(

Nithya said...

fritters look really crispy and yummy :)

Unknown said...

Looks so perfect. Perfect accompaniment with tea!

Patricia said...

Great post! As a native Brazilian who lives and grew up in the United States, I love when Brazilian cuisine finds its way into American kitchens. I'll try this one soon :)

Swathi said...

Black Eyed pea fritters looks delicious.

Cham said...

Crispy like our masala vadas, great choice for Brazil!

Cynthia said...

I was just thinking how much like vadas they are. I like the idea of whipping air into it. Looks delicious.

Saraswathi Iyer said...

Looks so delicious and crispy. Thanks for the entry dear.

Anonymous said...

A very interesting recipe indeed, love to try different and new cuisines.

Thanks for visiting my Blog

/*TYNT script starts here */ /*TYNT ends */