In Salvador da Bahia, acarajé is fried to order. The baianas de acarajé, the women who have made this their trade for generations, sit behind their trays with a pan of red palm oil, shape the bean batter with a spoon and drop it into the oil, then split each hot fritter and fill it with whatever the customer asks for. The fritter itself descends from akara, the bean cake of the Yoruba people of West Africa, carried to Brazil by enslaved Africans and kept alive in Bahia, where it still holds a place in the offerings of Candomblé as well as on the street.

The usual filling is vatapá, a thick, savory cream of bread, coconut milk, dried shrimp, peanuts and cashews, cooked with dendê, the palm oil that colors so much of the food of Bahia. A spoon of tomato salad and a few dried shrimp go on top, and the hot pepper is offered with a question rather than assumed. The only fiddly job is skinning the beans, which takes patience rather than skill and is a fine task for a pair of helpers who claim they cannot cook.

For anyone following the race at Interlagos, this is the snack to hand round before the lights go out: the batter is made ahead, the vatapá reheats happily, and every fritter comes out of the oil already sounding like applause.

The bean batter

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) dried black eyed peas
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• plenty cold water

Method

1. Put the dry beans in the food processor and pulse 6 to 8 times in short bursts, just enough to crack most of them into halves and pieces. Do not grind them to powder. Cracking them now lets the skins come loose much more easily after soaking.
2. Tip the cracked beans into a large bowl and cover them with plenty of cold water, at least 3 inches (7.5 cm) above the beans. Leave them for at least 4 hours, or overnight in the fridge.
3. Plunge your hands into the bowl and rub the beans firmly between your palms, as if washing your hands, for about a minute. The skins will come away and float. Tilt the bowl over the sink and pour off the water with the floating skins, catching any beans with the colander. Cover with fresh water and repeat, five or six times, until almost no dark spots or skins remain.
4. Drain the beans very well in the colander, shaking out as much water as you can. Put them in the food processor with the onion and salt and process for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides every minute. Add water only if the machine stalls, and then only 1 tablespoon at a time.
5. Scrape the paste into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle on medium speed for 5 minutes, or beat hard with a wooden spoon for 8 to 10 minutes. This air is what makes acarajé light inside rather than dense. Cover and set aside while you make the vatapá, up to 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge; beat again for a minute before frying.

The vatapá

Ingredients

• 4 oz (115 g) day old white bread
• 2 cups (480 ml) coconut milk
• 1/2 cup (60 g) dried shrimp
• 1/3 cup (45 g) roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/3 cup (45 g) unsalted cashews
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) dendê (red palm oil)
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
• to taste fine salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro

Method

1. Put the torn bread in a bowl, pour the coconut milk over it and press it down so it is all wet. In another bowl, cover the dried shrimp with warm water for 10 minutes to soften them and wash off some of the salt, then drain and pat dry. Set aside 2 tablespoons of whole shrimp for the topping.
2. Put the rest of the shrimp, the peanuts and the cashews in the clean food processor and process for about 1 minute until finely ground.
3. Add the soaked bread and all the coconut milk to the ground shrimp and nuts in the processor and blend for 1 minute until smooth.
4. Warm the dendê in the heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute more.
5. Pour the blended mixture into the pan with the 1/2 cup of water and stir well. Bring it to a gentle bubble, then turn the heat to low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon and scraping the bottom, because it catches easily. Add a splash more water if it gets too stiff before the time is up. Season with salt, stir in the cilantro and take it off the heat.

Tomato salad and pepper

Ingredients

• 2 medium ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 small red onion
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) lime juice
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
• a pinch fine salt
• 2 to 4 malagueta or bird's eye chilies
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dendê (red palm oil)

Method

1. Put the tomato, red onion, green pepper and cilantro in the mixing bowl. Add the lime juice, olive oil and salt and stir. Leave it for at least 10 minutes so the onion softens a little.
2. Warm the dendê in the small frying pan over low heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of reserved whole dried shrimp and cook for 1 minute, stirring, then lift them out onto a plate. Take the pan off the heat and stir the chopped chilies into the warm oil. Spoon the pepper into a small dish so people can add as much as they like.

Frying and filling

Ingredients

• 1 cup (240 ml) dendê (red palm oil)
• about 2 quarts (2 liters) neutral oil for frying
• 1/2 onion

Method

1. Pour the neutral oil and the dendê into the deep pot so it is no more than one third full, and clip on the thermometer. Drop in the half onion if using; Bahian cooks fry with one in the oil, and it helps you judge the heat. Heat over medium heat to 350°F (175°C).
2. Give the batter a quick beat. Dip one large spoon in water, scoop up a heaped spoonful of batter, about the size of a small egg, and use the second spoon to push and turn it into a rounded, slightly oval shape.
3. Hold the spoon close to the oil and slide the batter in gently with the second spoon, away from you. Fry 3 or 4 at a time so the oil stays hot, turning them with the slotted spoon after 2 minutes, for 5 to 6 minutes in all. Lift them out onto the paper towels. Check the temperature between batches and let it come back to 350°F (175°C).
4. While the fritters are still warm, split each one almost in half with the serrated knife, as you would a bread roll. Spoon in a generous tablespoon of warm vatapá, add a spoonful of tomato salad, a few toasted shrimp, and pepper for anyone who wants it.

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