The Caribbean · Volume 11, Two Kitchens Built by Indenture
Pholourie
Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago
Illustration
- Researched
- Researched from 79 sources in the brief
As tradition built it
Pholourie
Trinidad; signature food of Phagwa
Ingredients
The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.
Batter
- split peas, soaked overnight
- 1 tsp, minced garlic
- to taste hot pepper
- 2 tsp, minced bandhania
- 2½ cups flour
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp yeast
To serve
- for serving tamarind or mango chutney
Method
- Soak the split peas overnight, then blend with garlic, hot pepper and bandhania.
- Combine with flour, turmeric, baking powder and yeast into a deliberately sticky, fluffy batter.
- Proof the batter.
- Shape two-spoon style, since it is too wet to roll by hand, then deep-fry.
- Serve with tamarind or mango chutney. Three named regional versions exist: a light flour-based one, a dense all-split-pea one, and a blend of the two, all given equal standing.
What a modern chef changes
High-Power Blend, Chinois-Strained Batter
Method
- Blend the soaked peas in a high-power blender to a genuinely fine purée.
- Pass the batter through a chinois to remove any remaining pea fibre before the flour and yeast go in, for a lighter, silkier fritter than a food processor gives.
- Hold the frying oil at a precise, probe-monitored temperature rather than judging by eye, for a more even, less greasy result across a whole batch.