Pholourie, Trini Style Split Yellow Peas 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.

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