Ingredients
Batter
- 3very ripe bananas, black-skinned
- 250 grice flour
- 60 gplain flour
- 60 gsugar, or to taste
- 1 tspbaking powder
- ½ tspsalt
- ½ tspgrated nutmeg
- about 100 ml water or coconut milk
To fry
- oil for deep frying
Directions
- Mash the bananas thoroughly in a bowl — a few lumps are fine but long strands are not, and they will make the fritters fall apart in the oil.
- Stir in the sugar, salt and nutmeg, then the rice flour, plain flour and baking powder. Add water a little at a time until you have a thick dropping batter that holds its shape on the spoon. Rice flour absorbs slowly, so let it stand for 10 minutes and check the consistency again before frying.
- Heat the oil to about 170°C (340°F). Test it with a teaspoon of batter: it should rise and colour in under a minute without browning instantly.
- Drop in heaped tablespoons of batter, four or five at a time, and fry for 3–4 minutes, turning once, until deep golden all over. Rice flour browns more slowly than wheat, so go by colour and not by the clock.
- Lift out onto paper and eat hot. They are a breakfast and a mid-morning street food, and they go soft within an hour.
Technique
- The bananas must be genuinely overripe. Yellow bananas have not converted enough starch to sugar and give a bland, dense fritter that no amount of added sugar fixes.
- Crowding the pan drops the oil temperature and the fritters soak up fat instead of sealing. Fry in small batches and let the oil recover between them.
Substitutions
- Plantain, very ripe, works in place of banana and is less sweet.
- All plain flour can be used, but the result is softer and less crisp than with rice flour.
Variations
- In Nigeria, Ghana and much of West Africa, akara is a savoury black-eyed pea fritter — a completely different dish under the same name. The Sierra Leonean sweet banana version is the one written here.
History
In Sierra Leone the name is used for sweet banana and rice-flour cakes rather than the bean fritter it means elsewhere in West Africa.
Frequently asked questions
What is Akara?
Akara is a street food from Sierra Leone: sweet fried rice-flour and banana cakes; street breakfast. In Sierra Leone the name is used for sweet banana and rice-flour cakes rather than the bean fritter it means elsewhere in West Africa.
How long does Akara take to make?
Akara takes 20 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 20. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Akara?
Yes, within limits. Plantain, very ripe, works in place of banana and is less sweet. All plain flour can be used, but the result is softer and less crisp than with rice flour.
What is the most important thing to get right in Akara?
The bananas must be genuinely overripe. Yellow bananas have not converted enough starch to sugar and give a bland, dense fritter that no amount of added sugar fixes.
