Cowpea paste, fried

Figure 6. Representative batch of akara, a bread-like product made by deep-fat frying cowpea paste. Reproduced with permission from Ref. 6. Copyright 1980, Institute of Food Technologists.

If a convenience product such as cowpea meal is to find favor with the consumer, it must produce an end product which is similar in quality to that produced by the traditional process. Essential to attainment of a light, spongy texture in the fried product is the formation, during the whipping of cowpea paste, of a foam with appropriate volume and consistency. 

Although a fried cowpea paste product such as akara is unfamiliar to consumers in the Western world, this use for cowpeas may have application as a snack food or as a bread-like accompaniment for fish or poultry. Legumes already play an important role in the diets of the world s population. Applications in which legumes perform successfully increase the potential for extending their usage even further. 

Huse, H. L., Mallikarjunan, R, Chinnan, M. S., Hung, Y. C., and Phillips, R. D. (1998). Edible coatings for reducing oil uptake in production of akara (deep-fat frying of cowpea paste). Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 22(2), 155-165. 

Cowpeas are an important part of the diets of West Africans. They re grown for domestic consumption rather than for export and are consumed as a boiled vegetable and as paste which is cooked by either steaming or frying. 

In subsequent studies to determine the most appropriate water level for hydrating cowpea meal produced from the 1.0 mm screen, sufficient water was added to the meal to adjust the moisture content to 56, 58, or 60% (H). Preliminary studies had shown that a 54% water level produced a batter that was too thick for whipping, dispensing, and frying, and a 62% water level was too thin. Traditional paste made from soaked peas contains about 61% water and has a viscosity value after whipping of about 302 poise. By comparison, the viscosity of paste made from hydrated cowpea meal was 578 poise at the 56% water level, 441 poise at the 58% water level, and 333 poise at the 60% level. The 60% water level produced paste with flow properties and a cooked product with physical characteristics more like the traditional product than the other water levels. 

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