Here is how to make akara balls with unpeeled beans
To make akara balls from unpeeled beans, use brown beans. Do not try it with black eyed peas (white beans) unless you like the black dots that will show on the akara balls. Aside the black stains on the
akara, the taste is great, so if you don’t mind the colour, you can cook with black eyed peas.
Do you know that beans skin is loaded with insulin and good for food. Especially for diabetics, the insulin in beans skin is removed when we dehaul the beans. Maize too has natural insulin that gets removed when we mill and sieve out the chaff to make corn pap.
After making moi moi from unpeeled beans some years back, I thought there should be a way to also make akara with beans skin intact but never found the time to experiment on the recipe until I eventually forgot about it.
Watch me make akara with unpeeled beans. However, if you prefer the written recipe, then continue reading. It’s below.
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Have an awesome weekend.
AKARA AND AKAMU BREAKFAST IN NIGERIA
This morning, while we talked about Nigerian weekend breakfast recipes and how akara and akamu (maize pap) has dominated Saturday breakfast meals, I suddenly remembered the akara with unpeeled beans and set to work. The way it turned out, my family wants us to repeat the recipe tomorrow as Saturday to them is the real day for eating this kinds of breakfast, lol.
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| Brown beans for unpeeled beans akara and moi moi |
Akara recipe doesn’t require many ingredients but you can add as many as you like. This was made with just Four ingredients; Beans, onion, salt and pepper. You can make akara spicy with as much pepper as you want. Both Fresh Scotch bonnet peppers and dried chilli powder can be used if you love spicy foods.
This akara recipe has many variations shared on the blog already. If you check older posts, you’ll find recipes for akara made with eggs added, akara with crayfish and other akara recipes. I love to add twists to my recipes each time I cook and that doesn’t mean we are not preserving original recipes. They are all on the blog and still being used weekly especially on weekends.
These two cups of beans produced about 40 small and medium sized Akara balls and we think that the skin did not only provide fiber but also helped increase the quantity of the akara.
The akara is so much compared to the ones we make with skinned (de hauled) beans.
TIPS FOR GOOD AKARA
Aside the type of scooping spoon us as explained, on this old akara balls recipe, there are other tips for good akara balls…
The thickness of the akara batter matters a lot. While moi moi needs runny batter to be fluff and soft, akara
needs thick batter to give you that real akara sold by roadside akara sellers. If you make your batter watery or runny, the akara will turn out flat.
2. Soak beans in warm water before blending. That helps the blender run smoothly and gives you very smooth blended beans. Beans for akara and even moi moi can be soaked overnight but this was soaked for 30 minutes and by that 30 minutes, the beans had already risen to the top of the water and felt soft enough for blending.
If you make akara for sale, there is no need for eggs and crayfish as that will affect profit made. To make good profit in akara business, use just beans, salt and pepper. The akara will still taste great/nutritious and you will maximise profits. For homemade akara lovers, you can add as many ingredients as your taste buds can carry. Chopping fresh peppers into the batter before frying is good too.
3. Blend beans starting with very small quantity and continue to gradually add as you blend. Do not add too much water but just enough to help the food blender run smoothly, when it starts to thicken, just shake the blender a bit and keep shaking instead of adding water.
Only add water when the blades can’t move at all. After blending first batch, do not empty all the batter from blender into a bowl, pour out a bit and leave some batter in the blender to help with next batch and so you don’t have to add water.
4. After blending, whisk well to incorporate air. You can whisk using your egg whisk or
hand mixer. Even a food processor can do the mixing
work. You need air incorporated so the akara balls can rise while frying.
INGREDIENTS FOR HOW TO MAKE AKARA WITH UNPEELED BEANS
I Used…
2 cups beans
1 medium sized onion
Yaji (Dried chilli powder)
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying.I used Grand soya oil to fry this akara.
PROCEDURE
Easy procedure on how to make akara with unpeeled beans
1. Soak brown beans in warm water for 30 minutes.
2. Rinse and blend with onion till smooth and light. You can add peppers while blending even though I did not.
3. Whisk in a bowl with an egg whisk or spoon or mixer.
4. Deep fry by dropping tiny balls of beans batter to hot oil and fry till brown before flipping. Once both sides are brown enough to your taste. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels or a colander.
| Akara served with akiamu (Maize starch pap, ogi) |
5. Serve hot akara balls sandwiched in bread or with akamu (Maize pap). That’s how to make akara with unpeeled beans.
See Another recipe for akara made with unpeeled beans and fresh rodo scotch bonnet) pepper added.
To see the different akara recipes on this blog, follow this akara recipe link.