Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Badjias
Crisp Mozambican chickpea-flour fritters flecked with onion and served with fiery piri-piri.
Mozambican · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 15 min
~347 cal · 24g protein · 63g carbs · 2g fat · 11g fiber · 8g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Badjias are Mozambique's crisp chickpea-flour fritters, spiced and flecked with onion and herbs, then deep-fried until golden, a direct legacy of the Indian traders and communities that shaped the cuisine of the Swahili and Mozambican coast. They are close cousins of the Indian bhaji or pakora.
Made from besan (chickpea flour) and seasoned with cumin, chili, and coriander, badjias are savory and often served with a fiery piri-piri sauce hot enough to make the crunch worth it.
Popular as a breakfast, snack, and street food in Maputo, badjias are cheap, crisp, and boldly seasoned.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups dried black-eyed peas (feijao nhemba), soaked overnight
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
a handful cilantro, chopped
1 tsp piri-piri chili, chopped
as needed oil for frying
as needed water
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Drain the soaked black-eyed peas and blend them with the garlic, salt, and just enough water into a thick, smooth paste.
✎ Chef’s note
The paste should be thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon. Too much water and the badjias spread and soak up oil instead of puffing.
2
Fold in the onion, cilantro, and piri-piri.
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. Two arrivals shaped this coast. The bird's eye chilli came with Portuguese ships after the Atlantic crossings, and the coconut-and-spice register traces to Goan and wider Indian Ocean trade, which is why a Maputo curry can taste closer to the Malabar coast than to anywhere inland.
🗺️
Mozambique. Matapa is the dish that shows what the Indian Ocean did to this coast. Young cassava leaves are pounded in a wooden mortar, then cooked slowly with ground peanuts, garlic, onion and coconut milk, often with crab or prawns folded in, and served over rice. It is a cousin of Cameroon's ndole and of Brazilian vatapa.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mozambique
Frango à ZambezianaChicken marinated in lemon, garlic and piri-piri with coconut milk, then grilled slowly over calm coals and basted with more coconut until it is gold outside and soft within.
Frango Piri-PiriButterflied chicken grilled under a lemon-garlic piri-piri baste, the original of a dish the world now queues for.
MatapaCassava leaves stewed with peanuts, coconut, and prawns, one of Mozambique's most cherished national dishes.
Browse all Mozambique recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Mozambique meal
Sumo de MúcuaDrink
Bolo PolanaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Badjias?
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?
This Badjias recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Badjias safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Badjias take to make?
About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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