Koose (Spicy Bean Cakes from Ghana)

The first time I ever came across koose, I was actually at work. One of my best mates at the office was from Ghana, and he brought in some treats his wife had made. When he described what he was eating, bean cakes, I asked whether it was not a Chinese dish. I was surprised to learn it was Ghanaian, as I felt I had intimate knowledge of almost all foods Ghana had to offer, yet I had never come across these.

This is most likely because koose is a quotidian street food in Ghana, and a similar variation is more popularly known as akara in much of West Africa. In fact, the origins of koose or akara are linked to the Hausa people, who are scattered across West Africa, but are mainly concentrated in Nigeria. Having spent most of my growing up years in Botswana, and away from the street food havens of Ghana, it is now no surprise that something so distinctively West African was not as familiar to me as it could have been.

Koose (kosai, akara, akla) is made from ground cowpeas or black-eyed peas. They can be made with ground cowpea flour or by grinding whole black-eyed peas. I had avoided making koose for a while because I knew that the process, at least the very first time I made it, would involve de-hulling each and every bean by hand. Ouch! Needless to say, since trying it out, I discovered a much easier method for de-hulling black-eyed peas for making Koose.

For this recipe, you will need a pestle and mortar or a food processor, a blender, and a medium saucepan for deep frying.