Akara Falafel Bowls with Suya-Tahini Sauce

Akara — deep-fried black-eyed pea fritters, whipped light and airy before frying — is close enough in spirit to falafel that building a bowl around it in the same style felt obvious. Instead of pita, the fritters go over rice and greens, with a tahini sauce spiked with a little suya spice standing in for the usual plain tahini drizzle.

Everything in this bowl is plant-based, from the blended bean fritters to the tahini sauce, which is why it's tagged vegan and, more specifically, plant-based African, since akara itself is a West African staple. There's no flour in the fritters either, so the whole bowl is naturally gluten-free.

The key to good akara is whipping the blended bean batter well before frying, working air into it so the fritters puff up light rather than dense. Fry in batches so the oil temperature doesn't drop, and build the bowl while the akara is still warm from the pan.