Food throw back. Trying new things and practicing my photography

If you've read any of my recent blogs, you know I am OBSESSED with pinning stuff on Pinterest. Whenever I have an idea about anything, I go to Pinterest figuring "surely, someone has done it before" and oftentimes, I find ideas along the lines of what I am thinking. AWESOME!

So, I have been wanting to do more cooking at home. Hubby loves Nigerian foods and JOE seems to have a few key Nigerian dishes she can't get enough of. I decided to look for some recipes on Pinterest.

When we went to Boston, my mom made akara (pronounced ah-car-rah). They are basically grounded up beans spiced up and fried. They are oh so yummy! I have never made them before but I love them and have fond memories of eating them when I was younger.

So I found a recipe online. I pinned it and decided to try it out.

On Saturday morning, I got up and got to it (I just heard Mickey Mouse say "let's get to it!" in my head...oy! JOE watches the same show over and over and over again!). Anyways, back to what I was saying...

This recipe is really easy. You can make the akara ahead of time and store it in the fridge for another meal.

Step 1:
I cheated on this step. The original recipe said to wash the beans. I didn't have to since I got the pre-washed beans. All I had to do was to rinse it out.
In hind sight though, I should have soaked it for at least 5 - 10 minutes because it was a little hard to work with.

Step 2:
Gather your ingredients. Again, I cheated a bit. I don't care much for cutting up onions so I buy the pre-cut ones. They are $1.09 a bag and I can make 5 - 6 different dishes with just one bag.

Step 3:
Add all the ingredients in the blender with a little bit of water. You want it to have a thick stew consistency. Not a paste consistency. So add a little bit of water at a time. 

Also, start out using the pulse option on your blender then switch to the blend option. Makes it easier on the blender or food processor. I have a blender from 1998 so you can only imagine how tasking this was on it. I know I know...I need to upgrade. I also have a food processor that we got as a wedding present but it is so heavy, I would rather not take it out of the box!

Step 4:
Heat up the oil. Then using a spoon, add a little bit of the blended beans to the oil. You'll know the oil is hot enough when the fritter sizzles around the edges.

Step 5:
Add more of the batter and fry away. It took about 5-minutes on each side. Do not overload your pan. It makes it challenging to take out the fritters.

Step 6: End result. It was so yummy, JOE and J started eating it BEFORE I was done making the entire batch. This will definitely become another stable at our breakfast or dinner table.

These are really yummy and can be eaten with bread or alone. JOE ate like 3 when I made them and started licking her plate when they were all gone. Yup! She definitely has some Nigerian in her :-).

Let me know how it turned out if you do make it.