Lunch · 90 min · brazilian

Acaraje (Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)

This is the kind of Brazilian lunch you’ll make on repeat — black-eyed peas and onion, 90 minutes, big payoff.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Black-eyed peas
• 1 Onion
• 3 cups Red palm oil
• 0.5 lb Shrimp
• 0.25 cup Peanuts
• 0.25 cup Cashews
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 0.25 cup Cilantro
• 1 Lime
• 2 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Soak the peas overnight, then rub them between your hands in water to slip off the skins — skinned peas fry up crisp instead of leathery. This takes patience; put on music.
2. Blend the drained peas with the chopped onion and salt into a thick, fluffy batter, adding water a spoon at a time. Whip it well — air in the batter makes a light fritter.
3. Heat the palm oil to 350°F in a deep pot. The dendê must be hot enough to sizzle on contact; too cool and the acarajé drinks oil.
4. Drop in large spoonfuls of batter and fry 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until deep reddish-gold and crisp all over. Drain on a rack.
5. For the filling, quickly sauté the shrimp with garlic, ground peanuts and cashews, and cilantro — a spoonful of vatapá or caruru also works beautifully.
6. Split each fritter and stuff generously with the shrimp mixture. Serve hot with lime and hot pepper sauce — eating acarajé standing up, burning your fingers slightly, is the authentic experience.

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