stuffed akara | acaraje | kosai

---

Akara is a popular Nigerian street food, it is in fact a staple. The main ingredient is beans that are peeled and blended into a smooth paste with some other vegetables. The blend is deep fried in vegetable or palm oil. Akara is a breakfast food and can also be lunch or dinner. In Nigeria for example, akara is mostly sold in the morning and evening. It can be eaten with akamu, bread, fried yam or sauce. A lot of people would rather buy from street vendors than make them because of the work and skill required to make akara. If you want to make akara in the morning, you have to start prepping it the night before. Regardless of the time consuming nature of making akara, nobody would say it is not worth it. It is very delicious and filling.

• Pour the beans and a lot of water into a blender and pulse it for a few times. Do not blend the beans. Pour the beans into a bowl, then peel off the skin by rubbing the beans between both palms; do this multiple times. Separate the skin from the beans adding more water to the bowl, swirl it so that the skin floats to the top while the beans remain at the bottom. Quickly decant it so that the skin would go with the water. Do this multiple times until the water is clear and the beans look clean. Remove any leftover skin with your finger.
• Soak beans in a large bowl of water overnight or  for 5 -6 hours or until they are soft. While the beans are soaking, you can make the sauce.
• Dice tomatoes, peppers and onion.
• Heat palm oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. The oil will look lighter and begin to smoke when it is hot enough. Add the chopped onion into the hot oil and saute for 2 - 3 minutes until they become translucent. Add crayfish and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add diced peppers and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, seasoning cube and salt, stir and continue to cook sauce while stirring it at intervals so that it does not burn at the bottom. Cook the sauce until it tastes good or when it looks glossy. In all, from start to finish it will take about 15 - 20 minutes to cook the sauce. When the sauce is ready set it aside and make the akara.
• Once the beans are soft, blend the beans with the onion and a little water. Do not add too much water, otherwise the blend will be too loose or runny to make akara. The secret to having a thick blend is to use less water, use the moisture from the onion to blend the first batch, start with a small batch and add more beans when the previous blend is smooth. This will greatly cut down the need for more water. If the blender is struggling to blend the beans, add more water so that the blender is not damaged. Blend the beans until the blend is smooth.
• When you are done blending the beans, there is another important step that you should not skip. You have to whip in air into the bean paste. You can do that by using the blender, a mixer or a mortar and pestle. Whip in air until it becomes lighter, increased in volume and fluffy. Add salt to each batch before frying.
• Pour a lot of oil into the frying pan. Heat it up on medium heat. When it is hot, scoop the beans blend with  any size of spoon or scoop (depending on the size you want). A bigger scoop or spoon will produce bigger akara. Fry the akara over medium heat so that it can cook through and not brown too quickly. Fry on each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove akara from oil when they are done or when you are satisfied with the shade of the akara. Place them on a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Cut the akara in the middle and stuff it with the filling. Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 cups black eyed peas

1 medium onion

Salt to taste

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Sauce/filling

1 can diced tomatoes or 3 large tomatoes

2 large habanero peppers

1 medium - large onion

1/2 cup selected crayfish

1 cup palm oil

1 seasoning cube

Salt to taste