Oh how I love akara! Especially as I now know how to make it. I have several recipes and styles on how I have made akara on here. But this recipe is that twist I was really longing for. But before we talk about this recipe let us talk about the girl child and how important we are as women eh 🙂

I received an email from Molly from Teza technologies where they usually celebrate the “International day of the girl” across the globe. When she contacted me, I did not hesitate to agree talking about this on my blog as it is a subject close to my heart especially as a Nigerian woman. This day of the girl not only highlights opportunities for girls, but celebrates every girl and their achievements.

Over47% of the work force are women and hey! We all need to be celebrated! At Teza the celebration of women is important and so this should be done on a daily basis. We have to celebrate the women whom are already making a difference and show why women in STEM(science, technology, engineering and math) is important.

There are currently 19 nations whose high school students are performing better in science than those within the United States and 36 percent of students that declare a major within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields do not obtain a degree within these fields. Misha Malyshev, CEO of Teza Technologies works with nonprofits to curb that number. International Day of the Girl is a great time to celebrate the women in this field, and every field, and recognize the opportunities allowed to girls. The image below shows what I am talking about.

As a Nigerian woman, this movement is something I would like to see happen in my country. Women in my country go through a lot and get back little respect most times. We are hardly ever celebrated even with the positive difference we make. The day of the girl is a movement, I think will help us as Nigerian women to soar and grow; not only intellectually, but mentally. Not only do I think we need to celebrate each other more often as women, the Nigerian government and everyone in power needs open doors for it’s women to flourish. Forget about everything else right now and focus on celebrating yourselves as women! If we must copy oyinbo thing, let this be it!

And back to the recipe. I decided to do this recipe on the day I created a shrimp filling for devilled eggs. The filling was absolutely delicious and with my ajebutters expecting breakfast; akara to be precise, I made this. Well, before making the akara, I was confused as to how I would cook the shrimp with it until I talked to fellow blogger Runy of thecuilinaryjunkee and she suggested that I should cook the shrimp half way before frying it with the bean batter.  Cooking the shrimp half way enabled the shrimp from being over cooked and rubbery.

I absolutely love this recipe and would be totally stoked to see it on a restaurant menu. Like ehn! Shrimp and garlic akara. Will I  keep finding new ways to make akara? Absolutely! Akara is bae and this version is “baer” than bae when paired with some pepper sauce  hehehehe

Abeg make some make we chop

5.0 from 1 reviews

Spicy Shrimp and Garlic Bean Fritters (Akara With A Twist)

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: Nma

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 2cups of oloyin i,e. honey beans(any type of beans is okay)
• ¼ cup of crayfish
• 1 small onion
• 1tsp dry powdered pepper or chili flakes
• ½ an inch of ginger(optional)
• 2 eggs (optional)
• oil for deep frying
• salt or bouillon to taste

for sauce

• 1lb of shrimp(deveined, cleaned and chopped)
• 2garlic cloves(finely minced or crushed into a paste)
• 4 small habanero peppers or ata-rodo(crushed)
• ½ tsp thyme(optional)
• 2tbsps butter
• salt to taste

Instructions

1. Soak beans for about 10 minutes or overnight and wash by either pulsing in a blender or rubbing the beans against both palms and draining out the skin.
2. To pulse in the blender, simply pour the raw beans into a blender, add some water and pulse a few times to break it up. Pour the broken beans in a bowl and rub between your palms to remove the skin. Pour in some more water and the skin would float to the top. Pour the skin out and keep repeating the rubbing and draining process until the beans is free of the skins. If washing without the blender, simply soak and rub the skin between your palms, top up with water and discard the skins as they float to the top; then set aside in cold water

To make the sauce

1. In a sauce pan heat the butter, pour in the garlic, shrimp, pepper and thyme. Season with a little stir fry. Once the shrimp begins to turn pink, quickly remove the pot from the heat and set aside (do not over cook the shrimp)

To prepare Akara

1. blend the beans with minimal water and the onion; along with the crayfish. (You want your batter to be thick and not runny). Blend the beans into a smooth paste. Using a spoon or a whisk, beat in the eggs and dry pepper; then stir in the shrimp mix. season with salt or bouillon to taste. Heat up a deep frying pan or deep fryer with enough oil for deep frying. (while oil is heating, keep beating the akara mix to keep it fluffy) When the oil is hot enough; using a tablespoon or little scoop, pour the akara batter in little increments into the oil to fry and form balls. Fry each ball until golden brown and with a slotted spoon, scoop out the cooked balls and drain unto a paper towel to remove the excess oil. Repeat the process until the batter is used up
2. Pair with atadindin for effect 🙂

Notes

To have fluffy balls, you have to keep beating the batter in between frying

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