Black-Eyed Pea Fritters Recipe (2024)

These are also a staple of street food in Bahia, Brazil, where they are known as acarajé, and cooked in red palm oil (dendé). On the street they're made rather large, sliced and spread inside with a sauce made from dried shrimp, ginger, onion, hot peppers and more dendé.

To help you guys out, you can soak the black eyed beans in cold water for 2-3 hrs. Use the pulse function on your blender to peel it. Trust me it works effectively. Then wash out the skins with running water. This is a very popular Nigerian meal called Akara. I have a link to it http://sisijemimah.com/2015/11/26/akara-bean-fritters/

I grew up eating these in Key West Florida were we called them "Bollos." My aunt and uncle had a stand just outside the Aquarium were these were sold by the dozen, or half. When made right they are delicious. I've made them myself. The biggest hurdle is shedding the skin from the peas. Some individuals grind the peas skin and all, others use canned peas.

Easy to make and came out very tasty. I added some garam masala to give it the Indian touch and was not disappointed. And if you are vegetarian, soy sauce works as a substitute for the fish sauce in the spicy pickled carrot recipe. Overall very tasty and can be made quickly. FYI most Indian grocery stores carry the black eye peas without skin so you don't have to spend time doing step 1.

I soaked the peas for 12 hrs. so the skins came off OK. I turned the process into a zen meditation. Instead of a fry pan I used my mini Cuisinart deep fryer. Made balls of the dough a bit smaller than falafel. Turned out fantastic. They have a unique taste and texture, almost like flour was used. One could sit at table making these while guests ate. So glad to have something different in my menu folder.

Yes I keep batter at the ready refrigerated all the time

I was nervous that these wouldn’t hold together based on the reviews, but they fried up beautifully. This was a great change of pace from my usual black-eyed pea recipes. The peeling was the worst part of this, and the only really I’d hesitate to make this again. The pita combination is interesting, but I found myself craving a creamy sauce with it. The carrots are VERY spicy. I’d use a baguette next time, because it’s hard to get everything into a pita.

I soaked the black-eyed peas for about 3 hours and the skins didn't easily fall off for me. I tried removing some by hand but eventually gave up because it was taking forever. I don't know that it's a completely necessary step because they still turned out great. These were so light and flavorful. Don't add too much water to the food processor, just a tablespoon or two. I definitely recommend making the pickled carrots to go with, they really added a lot to the sandwich.

Superb! Yes, skinning the beans by hand was tedious. I'll try the blender trick next time. I did add 1/2 tsp garam masala as another suggested. I used my #50 scoop and it made 18 fritters. Also made the slaw - I ran out of rice vin so subbed white wine vin. Delightful! Made a batch of ATK's Cast Iron Flat Breads and served it all up like falafel sammies. So delicious! Froze my extra fritters on a rack then vacuum sealed for the future.

These came out exactly as depicted, and were good but we felt they needed a little more flavor. My husband even salted them, and he never salts anything. I think they would really benefit from a yogurt sauce. Of course they wouldn’t be vegan then. We ate them with pita, and when we realize they needed a little something we had a little hummus, which was too similar in texture and flavor.

Can this be made with canned black eyed peas?

This turned out perfect as written. Yes, shelling the beans was annoying, but the blender water method worked well - I think on a second attempt I could probably do it pretty quickly once the beans are soaked. I added nothing to the batter, my only change was using a shallot instead of onion because it was what I had on hand. They’re crispy and savory, great with the spicy pickled carrots. I’d love to make the batter ahead of time and quickly fry up for friends coming over to snack on.

AVOID THIS. It’s just silly.First of all, peeling black eyed peas rather defeats the purpose of them being black eyed. If you MUST, then do as others say, by soaking them in some water for a couple of hours and blitz in your food processor. Then, let them SIT bc the little black eyed pea coats will attempt to separate themselves in a sad little grey film at the edges and “top” of the mess. I added and egg and flour. Some fritters fell apart, others didn’t. I had to cut some open to re-fry.

Used coconut oil and don’t recommend it. Lime and Rancho Gordo Startdust powder saved the day. Made last yr as written, it was great. Unfortunately, used last yr black eye peas which make cleaning much more difficult.

Added about a half cup of flour and an egg to bind and then it worked. Without, they fell apart.

So what tragedy befalls if you don't skin the black eyed peas at all? I guess I can see that it's less authentic, but really, the skins are part of the peas. And I like black eyed peas. (It's a little hard to believe that so many makers of this "street food" are spending so many hours in such a dainty pursuit to produce commercial quantities of this snack)

To help you guys out, you can soak the black eyed beans in cold water for 2-3 hrs. Use the pulse function on your blender to peel it. Trust me it works effectively. Then wash out the skins with running water.

Not the most flavorful, but really great when made into a pita, especially with the spicy carrots (star of the show in my opinion)

Mine came out like complete mush. Maybe I added too much water to the Cuisinart, but only as much as needed to blend properly.

Good flavor but, they absolutely fell apart in the oil. I added an egg and then pan fried (flattened a bit) and then they were great, but as written these are just disintegrated in the oil.

Skins did NOT come off as directed. I dropped the batter into the hot oil and it disintegrated. Big fail. Not worth it.