Beignets de Haricots
Also: Akara, Accra, Kosai, Koose, Bean fritters, Acarajé (related)
Deep-fried fritters made from soaked, peeled and blended black-eyed peas whipped with onion.
Identity criteria
- 1Black-eyed peas (cowpeas), soaked and peeled of their skins
- 2Blended into a smooth paste and whipped to incorporate air
- 3No wheat flour — the bean paste itself is the body
- 4Deep-fried into light, fluffy golden balls
Components
Peeled black-eyed peas (cowpeas)essential
Onionessential
Oil for deep-fryingessential
Salt; often chili and gingeressential
Fresh chili or pepperoptional
Technique
- Soaking and peeling beans
- Removing the skins gives the smooth, pale paste and light texture
- Whipping the paste
- Beats in air so the fritters fry up fluffy rather than dense
- Deep-frying
- Sets the airy interior and crisp exterior
Form & serving
- Served
- Hot fritters by the handful, often in paper
- Temperature
- hot
- Portion
- Several small fritters
- Pairs with
- Pepper sauce · Pap / akamu (corn porridge) · Bread
Character
Flavour
Texture
Crisp shell, light airy bean interior
Eaten
A breakfast and street-food staple across West and Central Africa, sold hot from roadside fryers with pepper sauce or porridge.
When
year-round
Variations & related
Regional variations
- Akara · Nigeria/Benin
Nigerian name; common breakfast street food
- Koose / Kosai · Ghana/Sahel
Sahelian and Ghanaian names, often spicier
- Beignets de haricots · Burkina Faso / DR Congo
Francophone name across West and Central Africa
Related dishes
- descendant Acarajé
Brazilian (Bahian) descendant via the transatlantic slave trade
- sibling Falafel
Another fried legume fritter from a different region
Substitutions
Peeled black-eyed pea paste → Wheat-flour batterinadmissible
Makes an ordinary dough fritter, not a bean fritter
Black-eyed peas → Other peeled white beansadmissible
Possible but changes flavor and texture from the cowpea original
Hand-whipping → Blender aerationadmissible
Works as long as air is beaten in
Common mistakes
- Leaving the bean skins on, giving a coarse heavy fritter
- Not whipping the paste so the fritters fry dense
- Adding wheat flour, which masks the bean identity
- Frying at too low a temperature so they absorb oil
Provenance
A West African bean fritter (akara/accra) shared across the Francophone and Anglophone Sahel and coast, and carried to the Americas as acarajé; claimed broadly across the region.
Shared by: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo
References
- 1.West African street-food traditions
- 2.Yoruba akara tradition
Confidence: high