As someone raised in the American South, I love black eyed peas. But preparing them in the style of West Africa can almost make me hate them. I'm mostly kidding, but before starting this project, I had no idea that peeling black eyed peas was a thing. I spent hours doing it for Cameroon a couple years ago. It took slightly less effort this time as I was more prepared for the process, but it still wasn't easy. This recipe for Benin is called akara (also known as other names throughout West Africa) and is basically a fried dough made from black eyed peas.
First came the dreaded pea peeling. I realized that cracking the peas a little helped loosen the skins, so I tried to use as much force as possible when rubbing them between my hands. Once I got into the groove of rubbing and skimming the water to remove the skins, it went much quicker. I also realized picking out some of the peeled peas helped make it less difficult to get the skins off the ones that needed it, so I wasn't just rubbing already naked peas. (Weird sentence, I know.)
Once that part of the process was done, it was smooth sailing from there. I mixed the peeled peas, egg, spices (West African curry seasoning, paprika) along with onion and chilies. I went with fresno chilies but scotch bonnet is probably most common.
Everything was then processed to a fine texture. The recipe pointed out that whipping as much air as possible into the dough was important. This recipe would probably be even better if made in a high-powered blender.
The batter is then dropped by the spoonful into a pot of hot oil to fry and puff up. As usual, I didn't get the most perfectly round shapes, but my batter was a little thin and a bit watery than it probably should have been. Still tasted just as good I think.
The resulting fritter is light and fluffy on the inside, with little specks of chili dotted throughout, but nice and crispy on the outside.
I served mine with some veggies on the side and a dipping sauce made with more of the West African curry seasoning. This was a really great summer meal, and minus the time it took to peel the peas (which you can do ahead of time) it didn't take too much time in the kitchen. Not something I'd make regularly, but as far as fried doughs go, this one definitely benefits from the addition of the chili. Also, somehow the black eyed peas create a lighter and fluffier texture than flour, which is pretty cool!
Recipes Used: Akara
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