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    Home » Appetizers/Snacks

    Published: Oct 19, 2017 · Modified: Oct 19, 2019 by Usha Rao

    Pholourie, Trini Style Split Yellow Peas Fritters

    Pholourie, Deep fried Trinidadian snack, Trinidadian Food, Guyanese Food, Deep Fried fritters,

    Pholourie is a spicy deep fried yellow split peas fritters. Fritters are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It is a popular street food in Trinidad and Tobago, and in Guyana, served with tamarind or mango chutney. The main seasoning for pholourie is scotch bonnet, garlic, scallion and cumin. Dough/batter is fermented using yeast resulting in a fluffy texture in the inside. Continue reading or jump to recipe

    In 19th century there was some Indians migrated to Trinidad & Tobago for employment that British offered. Indian cuisine was slow adapted by locals and hence, Trini cuisine has Indian influence. Roti, samosa, pelau are some of the Trini food that has Indian origin. Pholourie is similar to plain pakora/bajji or fuluri/phuluri from Bengal. These resemble goli baje in shape and to some extent, texture as well.

    Pholourie Recipe

    Adapted From: African Bites
    Preparation: 10 minutes
    Resting Time: 1 - 2 hours
    Frying Time: 3-5 minutes per batch
    Yields: 20-25

    Ingredients:

    • 1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast
    • ¾ teaspoon Sugar
    • ⅔ - ¾ cup warm Water
    • 1 cup All Purpose Flour
    • ¼ cup Split Peas Flour (substitute with gram flour ~ besan)
    • ¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
    • ½ teaspoon Curry Powder (I used Jamaican Curry Powder), adjust to taste
    • ¾ - 1 teaspoon Salt (adjust to taste)
    • 2 Cloves of Garlic chopped, about 2 tsp
    • 1 tablespoon chopped Onion
    • 1 Scallion, chopped (substitute 1 tablespoon onion)
    • 1 tablespoon Cilantro
    • ¼ Scotch Bonnet or Habanero Pepper, chopped or 1tsp when chopped
    • ½ teaspoon Geera (Jeera) ~ Cumin

    Preparation:

    • Take ½ cup warm water in a bowl. Add sugar, yeast and let yeast activate itself. The mixture should be frothy in 3-4 minutes. Skip this step if using instant yeast.
    • In a bowl, mix together all purpose flour, split peas flour, turmeric, curry powder, salt and mix well.
      if using instant yeast, add it now along with sugar. Sugar is optional though.
    • In a food processor or a mini chopper, take 1 teaspoon garlic, scallions, 1 teaspoon chopped cilantro, habanero ~ scotch bonnet, cumin and make a coarse paste. If you have Caribbean green seasoning, add a tablespoon of it, cumin as listed above and skip this step.
    • Add this to flour mixture, along with remaining herbs. Mix well.
    • Make a well in the flour and pour yeast mixture and ⅙ cup of warm water. Mix to make a thick batter.
    • Taste the batter and season to taste.
    • Cover the bowl and keep in a warm place for 1 - 2 hours until batter doubles in volume.
    • Heat oil in a pan for deep frying, about 375 F.
    • Using a teaspoon, drop ½ a spoon of batter balls in oil. Batter will be very sticky and use two spoons, one to pick the batter and other to slide into oil.
    • Fritters will rise to top once it is fried on the bottom, turn and fry until light brown on all sides. Do not overcrowd the pan and fry on medium - medium low flame.
    • Transfer fritters to a paper napkins lined plate to drain excess oil. Frying remaining fritter in batches.
    • Serve fritters ~ pholourie with tamarind chutney or any chutney of choice.

    Notes:

    • Split Peas Flour - grind split peas in a grinder to make flour. If this is not possible, soak peas in water for 4-6 hours or overnight and grind to a smooth paste. Follow rest of the recipe.
    • Heat - for more heat add some chili powder or garam masala or substitute curry powder with any of the above.

    This day in:
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    Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#81

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    Reader Interactions

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    1. Sharmila - The Happie Friends Potpourri Corner says

      November 08, 2017 at 6:35 am

      Really tempting me to try it immediately!! Awesome share..

      Reply
    2. Veena Krishnakumar says

      November 02, 2017 at 10:52 am

      It is raining here and I need to make an indian version of these, Absolutely tempting

      Reply
    3. Priya Suresh says

      October 23, 2017 at 12:10 pm

      Wow, how tempting those fritters are, feel like munching some with a cup of tea.

      Reply
    4. Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says

      October 22, 2017 at 7:35 am

      These look like fluffy paniyaarams or punungulu with a Caribbean twist! Love to have this with a cup of hot chai...

      Reply
    5. themadscientistskitchen says

      October 21, 2017 at 11:03 pm

      Looking at the pictures I was thinking it was some bhaji or paniyarams. I love these and will want to visit Trinidad just to sample their cuisine.

      Reply
    6. vaishalisabnani says

      October 20, 2017 at 2:29 am

      But for yeast , it sounds very much Indian , ah I am craving some pakoras now !

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        October 20, 2017 at 8:45 am

        Yes, it is Vaishali. I didn't want to tweak the recipe to much and stuck to the ingredients local to the region. But if I were to tweak, I would thrown in few more chopped green chilies and use chilies instead of scotch bonnet, and use finely chopped scallions and cilantro instead of a coarse paste. Yum to munch on with a cup of tea during the monsoon season.

        Reply
    7. Mireille Roc (@ChefMireille) says

      October 19, 2017 at 9:47 pm

      but we dont usually make it with yeast...but I guess there will be variation no doubt

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        October 20, 2017 at 8:40 am

        It is good to know yeast is not a must. All the recipes I looked at had yeast and some called for both yeast and baking soda. I should have checked your blog, as that is usually my go to place for Caribbean recipes. But I also read in one of the blogs that baking soda is used for instant pholourie. As you said, I guess it is a variation. Thanks.

        Reply
    8. Mireille Roc (@ChefMireille) says

      October 19, 2017 at 9:46 pm

      OMG - this is one of my all time fave Caribbean snacks - I need to update the version I have currently on the blog. hmmm I think it'll be my next video 🙂 Yours came out perfectly. Hope you loved them as much as I do!

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        October 20, 2017 at 8:33 am

        Yes we loved it, Mireille

        Reply

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