Akara; A Native African Food, With Various Health Benefits, Learn To Make Akara, Simple And Easy.

Nigeria has been known for a lot of things, good and bad but I dare to say that the good way outsmarts the bad in various ways with things like natural herbs, food, medicines and also delicious native meals. In the midst of all of these, Nigeria has successfully filled the vacuum for utilizing one food to from another and another, this uniqueness is what led to one of the most delicious foods Nigeria and Africa has in general, ''Akara".

Akara is one of the most consumed breakfasts in Nigeria and in some parts of Africa, It is gotten from the popular protein generator, Beans. Mostly common in Nigeria, Akara is sometimes referred to as ''street food'' and at some point, you could even call it a bean cake if you choose. Native to Nigeria, Akara is also a perfect dinner that helps reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer in the body and also prevents stroke, besides being delicious and above all, Akara possesses various health benefits that make it unique.

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The Basic component that makeup Akara, possess a very high fiber and antioxidants that may even prevent infections and diseases, prone to the body. In various countries, it has been called many names like beanballs, bean rolls, and in Portugal today, they call it ''Bean Fritas or Acarajé''. Akara is simply a by-product that is gotten from beans, and with no much difficulty in production, my mum would always say its the easiest thing to make!

Ingredients

To prepare Akara you don't really need many ingredients, most people would say they are just five, some six and others seven. Here are they are;

• 1-2 cups of beans, depending on how you are measuring(Brown or black-eyed beans).

• Fresh peppers(precisely chilly pepper).

• Salt; Make sure to measure the quantity of salt so it doesn't taste so salty.

• Onions; Before grinding the beans, cut onions into it and likewise before frying, cut onions into the mixture too.

• Vegetable Oil.

HINT: Some times, adding a little amount of grounded crayfish and fresh pepper gives your Akara a better taste.

Equipments Used

• Blender; You definitely need a blender, for grinding the beans, since you cannot fry the beans directly

• Frying Pan

• Gas cooker or stove(most times the ancient firewood technique is quite efficient).

• Measuring Spoon

• Mortar And Pestle(Native to Nigeria and Africa generally).

How to Make Delicious Akara

Now, I do not really know how many countries already do Akara but I'll just give the first and overall recipe in making A nice tasty-looking Akara.

To make Akara, you first need to have measured a certain amount of raw beans that would suffice, if it's just you, then I prefer you measure accurately so you don't get to over measure and end up wasting the whole beans. Then, after measuring the number of beans you need, pour it into a bowl, or round bucket, soaking it with a small amount of water, remember not to drown the beans in the process.

After 3-4 mins, peel of the coated surface of the beans, leaving it pale white. In some cases, the coated chaff might prove stubborn and not peel off, just give it a few more mins soaked into that small amount of water, after some time peel the rest of.

Then, try to wash off the chaff or peeled coating, rinse the beans twice or even three times so that it looks neat, pour it into another bowl, Cut onions into the same bowl, add pepper to the level you want. After this, grind everything together, properly well(using a grinding machine), make sure that the machine can successfully break the beans into two semi-liquid states when it fully blended it will look like tomato paste, only that it wouldn't be red, you know.

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Now the final stage is simple, adding salt into the already blended mixture, make sure you don't put too much salt so it doesn't taste salty, you could also add some crayfish to it but it's not really necessary, adding it just improves the taste. Now the time to fry the mixture is now, make sure you have a pan(frying pan), on the gas or whatever means you are using, then pour oil into the Frying Pan, make sure the oil is about 3 inches deep, then allow it to steam properly well.

Then, measure the quantity of the blended beans mixture to pour into the pan using a spoon. Allow it to fry for a while and then when it becomes brown on both sides, you know that it is already set. Most importantly, the fact that it turned brown doesn't really mean it's done on the inside, so you might need to reduce the fire, so it can be done inside-out or fry properly.

Akara is not just perfect in simplicity, its also an amazingly delicious meal when combined with some certain foods like bread, Pap and custard. It's not too late to try this amazingly delicious recipe and find out how tasty it is, even if you wouldn't do it cause you think it's quite tasking in your head, do it because of the health benefits it has. Remember your life and health is dependent not only on the quality things you acquire but also in the foods you consume daily.

FACT: Did you know that Akara is a recipe brought to the Brazilians by the enslaved peoples of West Africa?
The name ''Akara'' was given by the Yoruba people of South-western Nigeria. Did you know that beans balls, help repair worn-out tissue?

References

Acrajaé

Wikipedia

Benefits Of Akara

Thank you very much and make sure you try it out!☮️