Akara with Tomato Sauce

As we mentioned in last summer’s entry on Falafel, the concept of deep-fried bean fritters apparently was invented in the Maghreb and taken by Arab traders throughout the Islamic world.  In West Africa they took on the form of akara which are made from indigenous cowpeas and are simply flavored with onion, ginger, a little cayenne pepper, and salt.  These turn out much lighter than falafel and in fact remind us more than a little of the best hushpuppies we’ve ever eatern.  Even though the list of ingredients is short, the depth of flavor contained in these fritters is amazing, and you really owe yourself the experiencing eating them at least once, preferably with the accompanying spicy tomato salsa, also characteristic of West Africa.  We adapted the following from the 1970 African Cooking volume of the Time-Life Foods of the World series.

½ pound dry cowpeas
¼ cup onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, scraped and coarsely chopped
½ – ¾ cup water
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Let peas soak in hot water for an hour.  Rub the peas between your hands to loosen and remove the hulls.  Skim the hulls from the water.  When all the hulls can be removed have come loose, drain the peas and recover with hot water.  Let rest for another 20-30 minutes, and repeat the dehulling process.  Continue until most of the peas are dehulled. 

Drain peas.  Place in a blender with the onion, ginger, water, cayenne and salt.  Puree until the mixture turns into a smoothish paste.  Transfer to a bowl.

Heat oil to 375° F.  Drop batter into the oil in 1 tablespoon units until there is a single layer of balls covering the fryer bottom.  As the fritters cook they will float to the surface of the hot oil and then turn over.  Remove from the oil when they are golden brown on all sides.  Drain on paper toweling and keep warm in a low oven.   

Serve on a heated platter with the tomato sauce in a separate bowl. 

Tomato Sauce

1 small onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 large tomato, blanched, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped
¼-½ fresh habanero chili, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, scraped and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt

Place onion, garlic, tomato, chile, ginger and tomato paste in a blender and puree until smooth. 

Heat oil in a skillet.  Add in vegetable puree and salt and cook over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has cooked out and a thick paste has formed. 

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