Crisp Mozambican chickpea-flour fritters flecked with onion and served with fiery piri-piri.

Where does Badjias come from?

Badjias is a Mozambican dish from Maputo, Mozambique.

Can Badjias be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

Yes. This Badjias recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Badjias take to make?

About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.

Badjias — a Maputo, Mozambique recipe

Name: Badjias
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mozambican
Ingredients: 2 cups chickpea (gram) flour; 1 + 3 cloves + a handful onion, garlic, and cilantro, chopped; 1/2 tsp turmeric; 1 tsp cumin; 1 tsp chili; as needed oil for frying; as needed water; to taste salt

Africa → 🇲🇿 Mozambique → Maputo

Badjias

Mozambican · easy · serves 4

prep 15 min · cook 15 min

~355 cal · 18g protein · 60g carbs · 6g fat (estimated, per serving)

🍽️

Crisp chickpea fritters with red chili sauce

🇲🇿 Maputo

Badjias are a snackable Mozambican breakfast and street food inherited from Indian-Ocean trade, made from a spiced chickpea-flour batter fried into crisp, savory fritters. Golden and craggy, they are eaten hot with a dab of piri-piri sauce and a squeeze of lemon along the coast around Maputo.

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Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 4 —

•

2 cups chickpea (gram) flour

•

1 + 3 cloves + a handful onion, garlic, and cilantro, chopped

•

1/2 tsp turmeric

•

1 tsp cumin

•

1 tsp chili

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as needed oil for frying

•

as needed water

•

to taste salt

Instructions

1

Whisk the chickpea flour with the spices, salt, and enough water into a thick batter.

2

Fold in the onion, garlic, and cilantro.

3

Heat oil for shallow frying.

4

Drop spoonfuls in and fry until crisp and golden on both sides.

5

Drain and serve hot with piri-piri and lemon.

Maputo tradition.

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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

📍

Maputo. Where Portuguese fire met the African bird’s-eye chili.

🗺️

Mozambique. An Indian Ocean coast where piri-piri was born.

🌍

Africa. Fifty-four countries of tagines, stews, and fire-kissed grills.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

👩‍🍳

Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →