More on the Cuisine Crossing Continent's theme, in Chef Afrik:
image via Chef Afrika
More hereAcarajé is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê or red palm oil. It is a traditional dish of Bahia and is most often eaten as a street food. The acaraje is the descendent akara, a similar dish popular in South West and South East Nigeria. It is also found, under different names, in Ghana, Benin and Togo.
Akara was brought to Brazil by African slaves from the West African coast. Ozoz of My Kitchen Butterfly (one of my favorite African food blogs) has a very thorough historical and cultural post here, that gives great insight being Nigerian herself.
image via Chef Afrika