CORN AKARA

Akara is a street food that is typically made from fresh field corn, which is blended with a little water into a thick batter. It is not normally made from dried corn. We used dried whole grain Glenn’s Floury Corn to see if we could make these crispy, deep fried fritters, and Ngozi gave her nod of approval. It tastes like home.

Recipe for 25-30 fritters:

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cups of Glenn Floury Corn ( whole grain)

• 1 1/2 yellow onions

• 15 med shrimp

• 1 cube of Knorrs beef bouillon

• 3 liters of peanut oil (for deep frying)

• Salt

Instructions:

Soak the dried Glenn’s Floury Corn whole grain for 24 hours in water, covered in the fridge. The next day, rinse corn thoroughly. Using a blender, grind corn in batches of about 2.5 cups at a time, with just enough water to make a thick slurry. Pour the resulting batter into a large bowl until all corn is ground.

Dice one yellow onion into ¼ inch pieces and set aside. Rinse, shell, devein and cook shrimp. Chop into ¼ inch pieces and set aside.

Break-up the cube of Knorrs beef bouillon and incorporate it into batter. Add a generous dose of salt. Incorporate the chopped onion and shrimp into the batter.

In a deep fryer, heat up peanut oil to 375F. Put half an onion below the deep-frying basket to perfume both the oil and the cooking area. Prepare the deep-frying station with baking sheets lined with paper towels. Prepare tools needed for deep frying: a medium ice cream scoop, slotted spoon, tongs, and salt to garnish.

Using the ice cream scoop, spoon dollops of the batter into the basket of the deep fryer. Be careful not to burn yourself or overcrowd the basket. Using the tongs or slotted spoon, turn the akara while deep frying. Cook till a nice golden colour is achieved, and the akara float in the oil. Remove from fryer and cool on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.

Akara can be served warm or cold along with pap.

Lessons learned: Akara is delicious.

We were able to achieve a very crispy, crunchy exterior and a light an moist interior. The use of the whole kernel in making the batter meant that there was textural interest because of the retention of the fiber of the pericarp. The soft, delicate chunks of the shrimp provided a little treasure, and the onions added flavour and interest. And the colour! How joyful!