Saltfish accras are a popular Caribbean snack and in this version from Taymer Mason’s Caribbean Vegan, eggplant (aubergine/melongene) replaces the fish, seaweed gives the fritters their characteristic flavour, and the Scotch bonnet pepper gives it a spicy kick.

 

Serves 10

Ingredients

1 eggplant, peeled and cut into short, thin strips
2½ tsps salt
1 tbsp canola oil or another neutral-flavoured oil, plus more for frying
3 to 4 nori sheets, toasted and crumbled, or any other dried seaweed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 – 4 green onions, minced
1 Scotch bonnet or habañero pepper, seeded and minced
2 tsps chopped fresh thyme
½ tsp black pepper
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ – 1 cup water

 

Method

Sprinkle the eggplant with 1½ tsps of the salt and let it sit for 10 minutes to draw out any bitterness. Squeeze the eggplant strips to remove excess liquid; they should turn brown.

 

Heat the tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the eggplant and sauté gently for about 5 minutes. Cover and continue to cook for about 4 minutes, until the eggplant is tender.

 

Transfer the eggplant to a bowl. Add the nori, onion, green onions, Scotch bonnet, thyme, black pepper, and the remaining 1 tsp salt. Stir until well combined.

 

Add the flour, baking powder, and water and stir until well combined. At this point, the mixture can be set aside in the refrigerator for a few hours or fried immediately.

 

To deep-fry the fritters, heat about 6 inches (15 cm) of oil in a deep, heavy pot over medium-high heat for about 7 minutes. To test whether the oil is hot enough, drop a teaspoonful of the batter into the oil. (Do not forget to remove this piece of batter.) If it gets too brown, turn down the heat.

 

Carefully spoon the batter into the oil, using about a heaping teaspoon for each fritter.

 

When you drop each fritter in the oil, make sure the spoon gets coated with oil. This will make the next fritter slide off the spoon more easily.

 

Fry the fritters for 4 minutes, turning them as they bob to the surface. The finished fritters should be golden brown and crispy. (You may need to add more oil to the pot.)

 

Drain on paper towels and serve warm.

 

Cooks’ tips

The batter tends to turn dark if left overnight before frying.

It’s best to make it no more than three or four hours before you are ready to fry the fritters. It is possible to shallow-fry instead of deep-frying, but note that this will affect the shape of your fritters.

Can they be baked? Yes. Just portion the fritters onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 20 – 25 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking.

Read more about Taymer’s vegan quest.

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 at 14:14 and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.