Hi Everyone, Last week Wednesday, I sat for 4 straight hours engaged in the tedious task of removing the skins off of 4 ½ cups of rehydrated black eye peas. The constant dipping of my hands into the water left my fingers cold and wrinkled. I endured all of this because I wanted to make Acarajé – black-eye pea fritters – a popular street food in Brasil.
Acarajé (ah-CAR-ah-jeh) came to Brasil via West Africa where it is a well-known street food from Côte d’Ivoire to Nigeria, and is known by several names – Tosmo, Gawoo, Samsa and Akara. In the Bahia region of Brasil where Acarajé is popular, the fritter is cut opened and loaded up with a spicy sauce-like mixture of shrimp cooked