Recipe #74: Savory Pastry Chips

Today's recipe, savory pastry chips, is a popular party snack in Ghana. When we made these at Flair Catering we used a pasta machine, but you can make them fine at home without one. Also, we fried them, but by adding a bit more margarine or butter, you could also bake them.

Assemble ingredients

• 1/2 lb (8 oz) flour (that was about 2 2/3 cup unsifted for me)
• 1 oz margarine (or butter or butter-flavored shortening)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried ground red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• ~ 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground garlic (1 or 2 cloves, peeled)
• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) ground or finely grated onion (roughly 1/2 small onion)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• l or 2 bay leaves to season the oil 
• about 5 cups of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of cold water
• extra flour for rolling out the dough

If you do not have a pasta machine, you'll need a rolling pin.

Directions:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, then rub or cut the margarine or butter into it (I use my hands, or two table knives), add  the 1/4 teaspoon red pepper, the 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, mixing all together until it looks like cornmeal. 
2. Prepare the garlic and onion and add to the dough, mixing some more. I blended mine together in a blender, and added a teaspoon of water to help blend it. (NOTE: I should have added about a tablespoon).
3. Add the 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and continue mixing.
4. Measure out 1/2 cup of water. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of water over the dough in the bowl and mix it in with a fork. Push the moistened flour to the side and add a little more water (a couple of tablespoons), mix and push to the side of the bowl. Continue adding the water until the dough is just wet enough to hold together. 
5. Knead the dough lightly in the bowl for half a minute.
6. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, and roll one out to about 1/8: thick on a lightly floured surface. (If you have a pasta machine, simply cut the dough into sizes that will fit into it). I usually wet my counter with a little water and put waxed paper on it, then sprinkle the waxed paper with a little flour. This makes cleanup easier.
7. Gently fold the dough on top of itself several times, then cut it into strips about 1/8 to 1/4" wide (the thinner, the crisper).
8. Unfold the dough, and cut the strips into pieces (mine were about 1 3/4" long). You can also cut them into many tiny squares if you prefer.
9. Heat about 5 cups of oil to about 260 degrees F in a deep fryer or in a heavy pan or pot on the stove, depending on the size of your fryer or pot, and making sure not to overfill it.  Season the oil with a bay leaf or a couple of slices of onion. Remove the leaf or onion before it burns.
10. Add the strips (or squares) carefully into the pot. I put a couple dozen at a time on a slotted spoon and added them, stirring the oil occasionally while they cooked.
11. Within a few minutes, when they are a light golden color, they are ready to remove and drain. The chips should not be as dark as  doughnuts or atwemo. Cook smaller squares separately from the strips. They will cook in just a minute or two. They should be nice and crunchy when they cool.

These chips can be frozen, or stored tightly covered in an airtight container for up to a week.

When doubled, this recipe is easily enough for 12 people.At Flair they often serve these chips with plain peanuts or coated groundnuts in small cocktail baskets set around the room. After you make this once, you can decide if you want to increase the salt, pepper, onion, etc. next time.

My grade on this recipe: If I were to give myself a grade on my execution of this recipe today, I'd probably give myself a B+. Why? First of all, I grabbed "white"whole wheat flour from the cupboard instead of the white unbleached flour I meant to, so the color is not quite right, and they're heavier and a bit drier than they should be. Secondly, I forgot to add (and then remove) the bay leaves to the oil after I heated it and before I added the chips. It's missing that subtle seasoning touch. Finally, when I blended the onion and garlic in the blender, I didn't add enough water to make a smooth paste so there are bits of onion visible in the finished chips. Still, the chips taste fine.

Pineapple flour: last week when I was making pineapple juice, I tossed the pineapple core in the blender and blended it, then put it in a saucepan over a very low heat trying to dry it to see if I can make my own pineapple flour. (Not only do I not have a pasta machine, and I don't have a dehydrator, either). That didn't work, so today I scraped out the pineapple dregs from the pan and put them on a plate outside to see if they would dry that way. I'll let you know if it ever gets dry enough to grind it again. However, I can see at best I'll only get a couple of tablespoons of flour. . .

Update on the corn dough effort: Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to try soaking some hominy corn overnight, and then try to make my own fermented corn dough using that. Today I rinsed off the corn. I ended up with about 2 3/4 cups of soaked corn. In order to blend it, I had to use a little over a cup of water (about 1/2 cup water to each cup of corn). It's much wetter than normal corn dough. I poured the mixture into a glass pitcher that I've covered loosely. I'll keep you informed. I hope it begins bubbling and fermenting by tomorrow.

Recipe #43: Akara (bean balls or cowpea paste fritters)

I've frequently alluded to the hugely popular West African bean paste fritter called akara (aka  kose, akla, accara, koose, kosai). A version that traveled to Brazil is called acarajé. Akara is commonly eaten as a snack or breakfast food. This dish, of course, has many variations. While Ghanaians like to take credit for it, it is also popular in Nigeria. Jessica Harris, in The Africa Cookbook, gives recipes for Nigerian versions  akara awon (with beans and okra), akara egusi (beans and ground egusi, or agushi, a kind of melon seed), and even cheese akara. 

The first step in making this dish is to remove the skins from the black-eyed peas (the most common version in Ghana) and grind them. Yesterday I made a couple of batches using some "pre-hulled" black-eyed peas from Nigeria. I thought it would be a nice time-saver, but failed to notice the tiny pieces of stone in the package (I picked out the big ones), and ended up with gritty akara even after I rinsed and strained the beans. I remade the akara after first sifting out all those small sand-like bits of gravel, but still re-strained it before frying it, and it worked fine. 

A number of online YouTube (with Chi-Chi)  videos (by Zukatrading) suggest using bean powder. (NOTE: the two videos I've linked to from here are for Nigerian-style akara, and omit the fresh ginger, plus are shallow-fat fried, and are larger and flatter and are made from a somewhat thinner batter than the Ghanaian version I'm posting). If bean flour is available, it certainly is a time saver. However, I have to say, for the best akara, I'll still go with de-hulling my own dried black-eyed peas (For a way to do this using a food processor, see BETUMI's YouTube video. It's also possible to omit removing the skins and just grind the beans unskinned, but, then, I'm a purist and that's not how akara is traditionally made. I sometimes skin a pound of black-eyed peas then store them in the freezer to use as I need them. I haven't tried frozen black-eyed peas, but that's another option. I usually use dried red pepper because it is easier to control the spiciness of the akara, but you can substitute a fresh chili pepper (for example, a green or red Scotch bonnet or habanero, seeded, or if you're really brave, whole).

I like to make small bite-sized akara to serve with toothpicks and dips as a party appetizer.

Ingredients

1 cup dried black-eyed peas
1/2 cup of minced or grated onion (about 1/2 of one medium)
3-4 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger, peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
about 1/2 teaspoon dried ground red pepper (or to taste)
about 4 cups of vegetable oil (I often use canola)

Begin with a cup of dried black-eyed peas. Pick them over, rinse, and soak them in about 3 or 4 cups of water for at least 30 minutes (when I used the pre-hulled cowpeas I let them pre-soak in warm water).

While they're soaking, prepare the other ingredients, and put the oil into a deep fryer (if you have one), or a large heavy kettle if you do not. Do not fill the kettle or fryer more than half full.

After you have removed the skins of the black-eyed peas, either by rubbing them between your hands to loosen them and floating them out of a large basin or using a food processor as described in the YouTube video above, drain the water off and put half of them into a blender or food processor and blend them until they are smooth. Use up to 1/4 cup water (necessary if using a standard blender) to grind the beans to a paste, regularly pushing them down the sides with a spatula to make sure they are thoroughly ground. This will take several minutes.

Empty the first batch into a bowl and repeat the process with the second half of the beans (including using up to 1/4 cup water again). When they are fairly well ground, add in the salt, onion, pepper and ginger and continue mixing until the paste is well blended.

By now you should begin heating the oil. In a deepfryer, set the temperature to 275 degrees Farenheit. On my stove, I need to alternate between a medium high and high heat.

Empty the bean paste into the same bowl as the first batch, and mix (I like to actually use a mixer, but a whisk or spoon could be used) until air is incorporated into the batter to make it light (think egg whites or whipped cream, though that's not a perfect analogy). It will take a couple of minutes.

Depending on the size you want, dip a long-handled teaspoon (for tiny balls) into the oil to coat it, then dip it into the paste. In Ghana skilled cooks drop the paste right into the oil, but I'm not that adept. I use one spoon, and quickly use another spoon to slip it off into the oil, repeating until the fryer is filled but not crowded. If the balls do not turn over by themselves, turn them over halfway. It will just take a few minutes until they are nicely browned. You can make between 2 and 3 dozen small balls from this recipe. If the balls fall down to the bottom of the pan, the oil is not hot enough, and if they brown immediately without having time to cook through to the center, the oil is too hot. I drain them on paper towels in a colander to cool.

The balls can be eaten warm or at room temperature, alone or with a dip. I often use hot sauce and/or a version of a peanut sauce--in the picture I had some leftover groundnut and okra stew, so we used that.

Enjoy!