APRON AND PANS - AKARA

Ingredients

- 1 cup of brown or black-eyed beans (use bean flour as an alternative)
- 1-2 scotch bonnet or habanero peppers (atarodo)
- 1 small onion bulb
- 1 tablespoonful ground crayfish (optional)
- 1 stock cube (optional)
-  Salt to taste
-  Vegetable oil/palm oil for frying

Preparation 

• First, peel the beans if you are not using bean flour.
• Pour the beans into a powerful blender. Add crayfish, stock cube, onions and pepper. Blend the mixture, until you get a smooth but thick consistency.
• You can add just a little water in the blender, to help it blend easily.Make sure to blend in batches, so that you don't get granules and bean lumps.
• Note that the consistency of the blended beans is very important, so aim for a thicker consistency.
• If you are using bean flour, simply dilute in water to form a thick paste, then add ground crayfish, peppers, minced onions, seasoning and salt to taste. 
• After adding water to the first batch, you can pour a little of the already ground beans into the next batch, to help move the blades instead of using more water. This is a very important step in making akara, because this is where the consistency of the mixture is determined.
• Pour the blended mixture into a bowl, taste for salt and add a little if needed. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
• Pour vegetable oil into a deep pot or frying pan. The oil should be deep enough to cover an egg, that's like 3 inches deep.
• Heat up the oil until hot, but not extremely hot, so that the akara does not just cook on the outside without cooking on the inside.
• You can do a heat test, by dropping a little of the blended beans into the hot oil. If it browns instantly, then the oil is too hot, but if it sizzles and still has a creamy color, then it is at the right temperature.
• Using a tablespoon, scoop the blended beans and drop it gently into the hot oil.
• Akara tends to soak up a lot of oil if the temperature of the oil drops, so be careful not to overcrowd the pot/frying pan, so that the temperature of the oil doesn't go down.
• Fry the akara until brown and make sure you flip it over so that both sides brown at the same time.
• Transfer the fried akara into a sieve lined with paper towel, to help absorb excess oil. 
• Serve with pap(ogi/akamu), custard, eko/agidi or bread. It can  also be eaten as a snack in combination with other finger foods.

Credit: Nigerian Food TV, Google images