West Africa · Street food
Samsas (Deep-Fried Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)
Golden, crunchy black-eyed pea fritters with an airy interior, seasoned with scotch bonnet and served with fiery spiced salt.
The story
Samsas are the beating heart of late-afternoon street food markets throughout Burkina Faso, particularly across the central Mossi plateau. From Ouagadougou to Ouahigouya, women fry these legumes in deep cauldrons of smoking peanut oil, packaging them in recycled paper with dusting powders. Traditional cooks meticulously de-skin dry cowpeas by hand-rubbing in water to keep the batter pristine white and capable of trapping microscopic air pockets during vigorous wooden-spoon aerating.
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