Fried cowpea balls fritter

Cowpeas (also known as black-eyed peas) make a great fritter. You will need to get the oil nice and hot and fry them in batches, to be guaranteed fritters with a crisp, crunchy crust. Serve these wrapped in a fresh egg chapati.

Fried cowpea balls fritter Credit: The Good Cooks

• serves

  3-4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 225 g dried cowpeas (black-eyed peas)
• 2 cm piece ginger, finely chopped and crushed
• ½ cup roughly chopped red onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups cooking oil

Soaking time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. Place cowpeas in a bowl and cover with hot water. Stand for 1 hour.
2. Rub cowpeas between your hands to loosen and remove the hulls. When all the hulls have come loose, drain the peas and recover with hot water.
3. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the cowpeas, ginger, onion and salt to a thick grainy mixture (similar to the consistency of crunchy peanut butter). Once completely mixed, transfer to a bowl. Roll the mixture into small balls.
4. Heat cooking oil in a saucepan over high heat. When hot, add the cowpea balls and fry for 3–4 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with chapati.

 

The Good Cooks premieres on Thursday 8 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Thursdays at 8.30pm (with an encore on Sundays at 6.30pm) on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.