Gumbo
Naz Deravian
417 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
417
4 hours 15 minutes
Black-Eyed Pea Fritters
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 1cup dried black-eyed peas
- 2tablespoons chopped white onion, plus sliced onion for garnish
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- ½teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper (optional)
- Pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- Fresh baguette or pita breads
- Spicy pickled carrots, for serving (see recipe)
- Lettuce leaves, for garnish
- Sliced tomatoes, for garnish
- Cilantro sprigs, for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Place the black-eyed peas in a large bowl with enough hot water to cover. Soak for at least 15 minutes (longer, even overnight, is fine), until the skins easily peel off when rubbed between the palms of your hands. Rub the skins off the peas, letting the skins float to the top. Slowly pour out the water and the skins with it, leaving the peas in the bowl. Repeat until all the peas are cleaned.
- Step 2
Drain the peas and place in a food processor along with the onion, baking soda, salt, a splash of water and the black and red pepper, if using. Process until a smooth batter forms, adding a little more water if necessary. The batter should be smoothly blended, similar to the consistency of light hummus.
- Step 3
Pour oil into a large cast-iron skillet or other heavy, straight-sided pan to a depth of 1 inch. Heat oil to 365 degrees over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and, using a spoon, carefully drop 1 tablespoon of batter into the oil. Repeat until there are several dollops in the pan, being careful not to overcrowd. Fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes, turning the fritters once. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towel and keep warm. Repeat until all batter is used.
- Step 4
To serve, split ¼ baguette or a pita bread and fill with 3 or 4 fritters, a generous spoonful of pickled carrots, and some lettuce, tomato, onion and cilantro. (Alternatively, arrange accara, without the bread, on a platter and serve with drinks.) Serve immediately.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Scott
Step 1 is exceptionally tedious if you try to do it with whole black-eyed peas. It will take dozens of soakings and rubbings to remove the skins and you still won't get them all.
Instead you should purchase shelled and broken dried black-eyed peas from a store that carries West African foods. If these cannot be located, first put the whole dried black-eyed peas in a food processor and process very briefly until the peas are very coarsely crushed, then soak them to remove the skins.
Tony Phillips
These are also a staple of street food in Bahia, Brazil, where they are known as acarajé, and cooked in red palm oil (dendé). On the street they're made rather large, sliced and spread inside with a sauce made from dried shrimp, ginger, onion, hot peppers and more dendé.
Dee
To help you guys out, you can soak the black eyed beans in cold water for 2-3 hrs. Use the pulse function on your blender to peel it. Trust me it works effectively. Then wash out the skins with running water. This is a very popular Nigerian meal called Akara. I have a link to it http://sisijemimah.com/2015/11/26/akara-bean-fritters/
Jose
I grew up eating these in Key West Florida were we called them "Bollos." My aunt and uncle had a stand just outside the Aquarium were these were sold by the dozen, or half. When made right they are delicious. I've made them myself. The biggest hurdle is shedding the skin from the peas. Some individuals grind the peas skin and all, others use canned peas.
Krishnan
Easy to make and came out very tasty. I added some garam masala to give it the Indian touch and was not disappointed. And if you are vegetarian, soy sauce works as a substitute for the fish sauce in the spicy pickled carrot recipe. Overall very tasty and can be made quickly. FYI most Indian grocery stores carry the black eye peas without skin so you don't have to spend time doing step 1.
Stephen
I soaked the peas for 12 hrs. so the skins came off OK. I turned the process into a zen meditation. Instead of a fry pan I used my mini Cuisinart deep fryer. Made balls of the dough a bit smaller than falafel. Turned out fantastic. They have a unique taste and texture, almost like flour was used. One could sit at table making these while guests ate. So glad to have something different in my menu folder.
Eac
Yes I keep batter at the ready refrigerated all the time
Erin
I was nervous that these wouldn’t hold together based on the reviews, but they fried up beautifully. This was a great change of pace from my usual black-eyed pea recipes. The peeling was the worst part of this, and the only really I’d hesitate to make this again. The pita combination is interesting, but I found myself craving a creamy sauce with it. The carrots are VERY spicy. I’d use a baguette next time, because it’s hard to get everything into a pita.
Katie
I soaked the black-eyed peas for about 3 hours and the skins didn't easily fall off for me. I tried removing some by hand but eventually gave up because it was taking forever. I don't know that it's a completely necessary step because they still turned out great. These were so light and flavorful. Don't add too much water to the food processor, just a tablespoon or two. I definitely recommend making the pickled carrots to go with, they really added a lot to the sandwich.
Bianca
Superb! Yes, skinning the beans by hand was tedious. I'll try the blender trick next time. I did add 1/2 tsp garam masala as another suggested. I used my #50 scoop and it made 18 fritters. Also made the slaw - I ran out of rice vin so subbed white wine vin. Delightful! Made a batch of ATK's Cast Iron Flat Breads and served it all up like falafel sammies. So delicious! Froze my extra fritters on a rack then vacuum sealed for the future.
Arika298
These came out exactly as depicted, and were good but we felt they needed a little more flavor. My husband even salted them, and he never salts anything. I think they would really benefit from a yogurt sauce. Of course they wouldn’t be vegan then. We ate them with pita, and when we realize they needed a little something we had a little hummus, which was too similar in texture and flavor.
Katie W
Can this be made with canned black eyed peas?
Sarah
This turned out perfect as written. Yes, shelling the beans was annoying, but the blender water method worked well - I think on a second attempt I could probably do it pretty quickly once the beans are soaked. I added nothing to the batter, my only change was using a shallot instead of onion because it was what I had on hand. They’re crispy and savory, great with the spicy pickled carrots. I’d love to make the batter ahead of time and quickly fry up for friends coming over to snack on.
NotPennyAnne
AVOID THIS. It’s just silly. First of all, peeling black eyed peas rather defeats the purpose of them being black eyed. If you MUST, then do as others say, by soaking them in some water for a couple of hours and blitz in your food processor. Then, let them SIT bc the little black eyed pea coats will attempt to separate themselves in a sad little grey film at the edges and “top” of the mess. I added and egg and flour. Some fritters fell apart, others didn’t. I had to cut some open to re-fry.
kmg
Used coconut oil and don’t recommend it. Lime and Rancho Gordo Startdust powder saved the day. Made last yr as written, it was great. Unfortunately, used last yr black eye peas which make cleaning much more difficult.
Emily
Added about a half cup of flour and an egg to bind and then it worked. Without, they fell apart.
DarkBlues
So what tragedy befalls if you don't skin the black eyed peas at all? I guess I can see that it's less authentic, but really, the skins are part of the peas. And I like black eyed peas. (It's a little hard to believe that so many makers of this "street food" are spending so many hours in such a dainty pursuit to produce commercial quantities of this snack)
k
To help you guys out, you can soak the black eyed beans in cold water for 2-3 hrs. Use the pulse function on your blender to peel it. Trust me it works effectively. Then wash out the skins with running water.
erika
Not the most flavorful, but really great when made into a pita, especially with the spicy carrots (star of the show in my opinion)
Rachel
Mine came out like complete mush. Maybe I added too much water to the Cuisinart, but only as much as needed to blend properly.
Alison
Good flavor but, they absolutely fell apart in the oil. I added an egg and then pan fried (flattened a bit) and then they were great, but as written these are just disintegrated in the oil.
Mimi
Skins did NOT come off as directed. I dropped the batter into the hot oil and it disintegrated. Big fail. Not worth it.
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