Split Pea Fritters (Guyanese Pholourie)
Guyana Pholourie is a delicious treat made from split pea. There is a clear Indian influence in the Guyanese cuisine. Their dishes are spicy and have the flavours of India with curry and other seasonings. These fritters are best eaten right out of the fryer and awesome dipped in Mango Sour (mango chutney). These are a very popular street food and often times you will see them perfectly round, using a unique way to drop the dough into the pan using your hand.
½ cup dry split peas
4-5 cloves garlic
2 wiri wiri pepper or ½ red scotch bonnet or habanero
¼ tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. garam masala
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. yeast
1 tsp. baking powder
¾ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
oil, for frying
In a bowl soak dry split peas with about 1½ cups of water. Leave this overnight. By morning the peas will double in size.
The next morning, drain the water from the peas. In a blender or food processor put peas, garlic and pepper or pepper sauce, and enough water to cover the peas and blend on high till smooth.
Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl. Now add all of the dry spices and mix till they are incorporated. Add baking powder, yeast, and flour. Mix thoroughly.
Cover the batter and let it sit for 1-2 hours.
Heat oil in frying pan, I would say enough oil that comes half way up your pan.
Dropping the batter into the oil:
This is tricky, you can do this with two spoons, but your pholourie balls will not come out as round as they should be. The authentic way is to grab some batter in your hand and turn your fist upside down so that the batter falls through your thumb and pointer finger. When you drop the batter into the oil, it should immediately pop up, if it doesn't then your oil is not hot enough. Obviously you need to be extremely careful to not splatter your hand as you drop in the dough.
Turn the pholourie balls while they are frying so that they can evenly brown.
Continue this process until all your batter is used up.
Serve hot with mango sour.
Makes 16.