A K A R A – This wasn’t a staple in our home growing up, but I have always fancied it and wanted to eat it as often as possible. It is like a treat for me. Most people eats it on Saturday mornings but we already had our usual Saturday breakfast which was Stewed Beans with pap or custard or bread. But, I knew of akara – this road side / street food that is only sold in the mornings or evenings. If you don’t get there on time, you won’t meet the seller there any more, akara will be finished – all gone!.
Anyways, whenever I visited home during break from university, once in a while, I will go buy it. It is such a delicious meal. It always feels like a treat to myself lol.
I know some of you might be wondering what “Akara” is. Akara is made from beans blended with pepper and onions and then seasoned and deep fried into fritters. It is usually paired with Akamu (pap), custard, garri, bread, oat, fried yam, fried plantain, fried sweet potato, etc.
It really took me a very long time and a lot of experiment to get the correct recipe that I loved. There was a lot of failed recipes and since this wasn’t a made we made at home, I honestly had no idea what I was doing but I kept trying and making adjustments as I went until I got it right. All I have was my memory and taste bud and finally! Here we are with my perfect Akara recipe.
When I got the measurement right the first time, I can remember yelling my sister’s name (she was in her room and I was in the kitchen), my chief critic and taster, for her to come taste it and she gave it a thumbs up – 5 stars – it tasted exactly as we remembered. I was so excited, at last! I made it and it tasted great. Since the first successful recipe, I have made this recipe many times now and they all come out just like I love it.
Traditionally, there are no egg white added in the original akara recipe but I needed the fluffiness and lightness that the egg white brings, I didn’t want it to be dense. This recipe can definitely be made without the the egg white, just like the original traditional recipe. No much adjusted needed, just skip the egg white and continue with the other ingredients in the recipes.
I have also tried to highlight 3 ways you can incorporate air into the beans batter: 1. Whisking with hand-held whisk. 2. Using an electric hand mixer and 3. Using a stand mixer. Whichever method you decide to go with, the goal, is to whisk continuously, thereby incorporating air into the beans batter.
Another important thing to note, is to make sure that the water you are adding when blending the beans with the pepper and onions is as little as possible, I have included measurement for the water quantity, it isn’t a suggestion, use as stated. If possible use less than what is stated – Too much water and too little water was the major factor for my failed experiment during the testing phase. Once I got that figured out right, everything else worked out.
If you are adventurous like me, you can add some cooked shrimp into the batter and fry like normal akara.
Let me let you in on a little inside thingy, when I got this recipe right, I was beaming with joy, I was so proud. All the experiments paid off after all. This was a proud B moment.
Anyways, I hope you love and enjoy this recipe as much I did.
Enjoy, With Love, Bawo!
Akara
- 1½ Cups Peeled Beans (Measure the beans after peeling the skin off it. If using store bought already peeled beans, soak it for 6-8 hours or overnight, drain the water then measuring the beans.)
- 1 medium Onion
- 1½ – 2 Habanero Pepper (Deseed)
- 3 TSP Water
- 1 Egg White – Optional (Just the white/transparent part. Don't add the yolk, the yellow/orange part. )
- ⅓ cup Cooked Shrimp (Optional )
- Seasoning cube – To Taste
- ¼ – ½ TSP Salt (I only used ¼ tsp, Using ½ tsp made it a bit salty for me.)
- Vegetable oil (Enough to deep fry)
Add the peeled beans, onions and habanero pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the water 1 tsp at a time until it is fully blended.
Transfer into a mixing bowl. Add the salt and seasoning and mix. If using egg white, add it at this point.
Mix / Whish until it is fluffy.
If using shrimp, add it and gently fold it into the batter using a spatula. Be careful not to over fold it, thereby removing the air from the batter.
Put a deep pan on medium heat and add the vegetable oil or any neutral oil to fill the pan half way and allow to heat. Be watchful, you don't want the oil to be too hot otherwise the akara will get brown too quickly on the outside and not fully cook on the inside.
To Test the oil, Once you place a toothpick in the oil and it bubbles right away, the oil is ready.
Once the oil ready, use a spoon to gently scoop a spoonful into the hot oil, one at a time. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan so it temperature doesn't drop resulting in the akara soaking oil thereby making it greasy.
When one side is golden brown, turn it so the other side cooks and gets golden brown as well. Once all sides are golden brown, transfer into a paper towel lined flat plate to drain out the excess oil.
Continue step 7 until you have completely fried all the bean batter.
Akara is best served hot.
Enjoy alone or with akamu, custard, bread, garri, etc
With Love, B!
