Akara (African) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 lb dried black-eyed peas
2 small onions
1 red pepper
salt
white pepper
olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes
1 green pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Preparation

Soak peas overnight in lots of water. Drain. Peel the outside skin from the peas.
In a processor, pulse the 1 onion and red pepper to coarsely chop. Add soaked peas and puree to a paste. Transfer to a bowl and using a whisk, whisk the mixture adding salt, white pepper and just a little soaking liquid -- not too much as the mixture needs to retain its shape for frying.
Using an ice cream scoop, form into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. Drop into a pot of hot olive oil, heated to 360 degrees F. Fry until golden brown. Remove to paper towel-lined plate. Season again with salt and pepper.
Make a quick dipping sauce by pulsing 2 seeded tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 green pepper and some parsley in food processor. Add olive oil and season with salt and pepper. It should be a little chunky, but smooth enough to stick to the fried akara.