Acarajé is a traditional afro-brazilian recipe very popular in the lovely state of Bahia (Brazil). It's a delicious fritter usually deep fried in a local oil called "dende". The fritter is commonly served with vatapá and a spicy vinagrete, the vegan suggestion is to use jackfruit instead of prawns in the vatapá.
Delicious and perfect in a summer party ;D
I’ve BEAN around the World.

Beans Around the World

For the Beans Around the World challenge, here are some of the reasons why beans keep ya moving!

Jokai bableves is a Hungarian bean soup named for Hungarian writer Jokai Mor, a great lover of bean soup. My grandmother Zsuzsanna Somlo was too a great lover of bableves, and this recipe reminds me of being together in her warm kitchen when I was a little girl. Spending all weekend with my grandparents, cooking and eating with a warm bableves on the stove (always with delicious Hungarian nokedli) is, in my opinion, synonymous with love.

It’s BEAN in the Family for Generations
This recipe is known in my family as "the cream that no one could taste". I had prepared three vases, one for my family and two for friends and those adorable pests of my cats, probably chasing an insect, managed to drop all the vases to the ground. It took an hour to clean everything!

Beans are one of the best beauty foods around, full of lovely vitamins and minerals to help keep you looking and feeling your best!

A stew using garbanzo beans, with African flair.

Of course, the beans can be soaked and cooked from scratch, fresh peppers can be roasted and peeled, fresh tomatoes can be peeled and chopped and spices can be freshly ground, rather than using ready-prepared ingredients if desired.

The spice quantities in this recipe produce a relatively mild flavour. For spice enthusiasts the amounts can be increased for a more punchy result.

Enjoy!

Sweet azuki beans is a very important dessert ingredient in many Asian countries. It's very simple to make and can be used in all kinds of sweet snacks.

Get your facts about beans straight with the mighty garbanzo bean, the lovely black bean, the supportive pinto bean and the bossy adzuki bean!

In a small village where they forgot to paving the road with asphalt, there was a free spirit girl singing for her donkey letting the time pass selling her dry beans!
Would you buy my beans today sir!?...

A round pool full of happy little chubbies swimming.

Summer was, all through my childhood, spending time at Grandma's house.
My grandmother, an excellent cook, always prepared the best complete menu for the whole family. Starter, main course, and a delicious dessert. My goodness! My grandmother's homemade ice cream... (but that's another story).
Anyway, no matter what the menu of the day was, always at Grandma's house, you would find the same appetizer: beans in oil.
My grandmother used to serve the beans in oil in an old round ceramic casserole barely blue. It had a small broken grimace, where my grandmother would put a spoon in exactly the same way so that nobody would notice the breakage.
As soon as the pot was placed in the centre of the table, the fantasy began, the pool opened its doors crowded with happy little Chubbies swimming away one by one.

The following Illustrated recipe is a tribute to Grandma and her love for cooking. This is also a tribute to all the love grandma's dedicate towards their grandchildren. This recipe is one of the best recipes that come from North Indian cuisine and one of my personal favorites!

Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets that are often served with tea.

They reflect the natural motifs of the four seasons, each of which is significant in Japan.

Wagashi are good for health.They are basically made from plant-based ingredients such as rice, red bean paste which is made with adzuki beans, and sugar etc.

Mochi and Daifuku are sweet rice cakes stuffed with red bean paste.
Dango is a sweet dumpling made of rice flour. Normally, three of them are served on sticks.
Dorayaki is made of pancake sandwich with sweet red bean filling.
Taiyaki is a fish-shaped cake, and it is also filled with red bean paste.
Cream anmitsu is made of small cubes of agar jelly, fruits, mochi, red bean paste, green tea ice cream, and drizzled with black honey.

I've not yet BEAN to Japan but it is my number one food fantasy trip! I love love love red bean desserts so this recipe is an ode to how this important ingredient wears so many cute disguises. I've attempted to learn some Japanese over the years and I get friends to send me snack packets for extra inspiration! Super kawaii foods with faces from Japanese pop culture and food packaging have been a big design influence on me so I tried to work that into this recipe as well. And finally, the little star shapes are a hard candy called konpeitō which I put in there for my lively anko to snack on. Sorry for any mistakes in my Japanese labels! The only thing trickier than learning a new alphabet is trying to do cute hand-lettering in a new alphabet!

This recipe is probably 100 years old. I named it after my grandmother, who I called "Honey". This was her mother's recipe. Her mother came to this country from the Azores in 1904, as a widow with 5 children. She brought the oldest, a son, and the youngest, my grandmother with her. As she earned money cooking on Ranches in the San Francisco Bay Area, she was able to bring her other three children to the United States.

I never knew they had "Pink Beans" as this recipe calls for. I was sure the local market wouldn't have them, but there they were. My husband loves these beans and he says he has never tasted anything like them. I serve with some crusty garlic bread. Always delicious.