Acarajé
This dish is a kind of ball-shaped mass made mostly of peeled black-eyed peas and deep-fried in oil (usually palm oil). It is served split in half and usually stuffed with vatapá (see recipe), some cooked shrimps and optionally some sauce based on hot peppers.
Acarajé has its roots in Africa, and brought to Brazil by slaves. It became very popular in Bahia state, but nowadays it can be found all around Brazil. In Salvador (capital of Bahia) acarajé is sold on street stands operated by women dressed in traditional white dresses and caps (called Bahianas).
Filling:
Hot pepper sauce (optional)
2 cups vatapá (see recipe)
1 onion
1 tsp. chili powder
1 cup small shrimp, cleaned
2 tbsp. palm oil or olive oil
salt
pepper
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Dough:
450g (1 lbs.) black-eyed peas
2 large onions
3-4 garlic cloves
1 hot chili pepper
2 cups of palm oil (dendê)
2 cups canola oil
Preparation time: 1 hr. + 12 hrs. for soaking the beans
Difficulty level: Medium
Servings: 10
Special equipment: Food processor
Ingredients
Preparation
Soak the beans with 8 cups of water for about 12 hours.
From time to time rub the beans with your hands to remove the shells.
Continue rubbing and rinsing as often as necessary to remove all the shells.
Prepare the filling: Slice the onion very thinly. Place in a hot skillet with the oil, sprinkle with salt and chili powder, and cook on low heat until soft and golden brown (about 15 minutes).
Add the shrimps and sauté until shrimps are pink. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Prepare the acarajé fritters: Drain the beans and put them with one onion, roughly chopped, the garlic, the chili pepper and salt in a food processor and blend until mixed (add some water if the dough is too thick). You should get quite a soft dough, but not too runny.
Put the dough in a bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon to let some air in.
Heat the oils in a wok or a deep skillet to medium high heat. Add the remaining onion, cut into 4.
Mold the dough into large dumpling sized balls and fry them until they are well browned.
Set aside on a paper towel and let cool for a while.
Serving: Slit the acarajé fritters lengthwise on one side, creating a pocket, put some hot pepper sauce (optional), 1 tbsp. vatapá and 1 tbsp. shrimp filling. Serve hot.
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