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Did you know that the word acarajé originates from the African language Yoruba? In this designation, ‘akará’ means “ball of fire” and ‘jé’ means “to eat”.
Acarajé is a typical delicacy of Afro-Brazilian cuisine, originating in Bahia, and is one of the most iconic dishes of Bahian cuisine. Made with black-eyed pea dough, onion and salt, acarajé is molded into dumplings and fried in dendê olive oil (palm oil), which gives it a golden colour and an unmistakable flavour. Traditionally, it is served cut in half and stuffed with vatapá (a cream made from bread, dried shrimp, coconut milk and peanuts), dried shrimp, caruru (okra cooked with seasonings) and pepper.
INGREDIENTS
500 g of raw black-eyed peas
Salt to taste
1 small onion with skin
500 ml of oil
500 ml of palm oil
cups of vatapá tea
150 g dried shrimp
DIRECTIONS
1. Place the whole beans in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds to break up the grains.
2. Be careful not to crumble it.
3. Place the beans in a container and cover with water.
4. Leave to soak for at least 12 hours.
5. Shake the beans with a spoon and use a sieve to remove all the skins that come off the beans.
6. After removing a lot of the skins, wash the beans under running water and continue removing the “eye” and the rest of the shells.
7. Remove as much as possible.
8. Set aside.
9. Peel the onions.
10. Cut into pieces.
11. Set aside.
12. In a food processor, place the beans and onions.
13. Blend for 3 minutes, or until you obtain a smooth and uniform paste.
14. Remove all the paste from the processor and place it in a large, deep pan.
15. Using a wooden spoon, beat the acarajé dough until the dough triples in volume.
16. This process is quite time-consuming but is very important for fermentation.
17. Place the oil, palm oil, and unpeeled onion in a medium pan and place over high heat to heat.
18. Using two tablespoons, shape the acarajés: fill one of the spoons with the dough, move from one spoon to the other until the dough takes the shape of a dumpling.
19. Place the dumplings in the hot oil and fry for 3 minutes on one side.
20. Using a slotted spoon, turn the dumplings over and fry until golden.
21. Adjust the oil temperature.
22. If necessary, lower the flame so that the oil does not burn.
23. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and place on absorbent paper.
24. Cut the dumplings in half and fill with vatapá.
25. Place the dried shrimp inside the acarajé and close.
26. Serve next.
Vatapá
INGREDIENTS
1/2 kg peeled and washed shrimp, head and tail removed
2 medium onions
2 tomatoes
1 coconut milk
1 palm oil
chopped green scent
10 loaves
2 hot peppers
salt to taste
pepper (malagueta or murupi) to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Sauté the shrimp with 3 tablespoons of dendê along with the onion, tomato, green chilli and fragrant pepper, set aside.
2. Blend the bread with water in a blender, for 2 bread, 1 glass of water.
3. Pour the beaten bread into a pan and heat.
4. Let it boil, stirring constantly, it will start to thicken.
5. When it starts to boil, add the rest of the palm oil.
6. Add the sautéed shrimp.
7. Add the salt and pepper, stirring constantly so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
8. When it’s almost ready, mix in the coconut milk and remove from the heat.
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