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Acarajé

Name: Acarajé
Total time: 40 min
Yield: Serves 3
Cuisine: Brazil
Ingredients: 250g Black-Eyed Peas (skinned); 1 Onion; To taste Dendê (red palm) Oil; 30g Dried Shrimp; To taste Pimenta Hot Sauce; 1 tsp Salt

Snack

⏱ 40 min

👥 Serves 3

Difficulty ⭐⭐

Black-eyed pea fritters split and stuffed with shrimp and spicy sauce — street food born in Bahia.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Acarajé comes from Bahia in northeastern Brazil and carries strong traces of the food culture of enslaved Africans. The baianas — women in white turbans and lace dresses who fry them on the street — are one of Bahia's most iconic sights. Black-eyed peas are ground to a paste, shaped, and fried in dendê (red palm) oil, then split and filled with dried shrimp and spicy vatapá. It was declared part of Brazil's intangible cultural heritage in 2005.

🌆 Where it's eaten: On a street corner in Salvador, a baiana in traditional dress fries acarajé in a big pot while tourists and locals line up.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 3)

Black-Eyed Peas (skinned) 250g
Onion 1
Dendê (red palm) Oil To taste
Dried Shrimp 30g
Pimenta Hot Sauce To taste
Salt 1 tsp

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Soak the black-eyed peas overnight and rub off the skins.
Blend the peas and onion into a smooth paste and season with salt.
Beat the paste vigorously to work in air until light and fluffy.
Scoop into oval shapes with a spoon and fry in 170°C dendê oil until golden.
Split in half and fill with dried shrimp and chili sauce.

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