Pholourie

Pholourie, pronounced po-lor-ree, is one of my favorite Trini snack foods. These light and fluffy fried dough balls remind me of a savory beignet (mmm…beignet) or doughnut. When my brother and I were little we spent our summers at my maternal grandparents home, and one of the best things, besides running around outside with my cousins like wild things, was getting to go to the parlor shop nearby and buying mango chow, tamarind balls, sweet and sour prunes, khumar and pholouire! My grandmother and many of my aunts and uncles actually made a lot of these things but it was always really fun to go on a little adventure and get little bags of some of our favorite treats. We were hooked and I guarantee if you’ve never had pholourie before, once you try them you’ll be hooked too. Also, don’t worry about the other things I mentioned, I’ll be adding recipes for those soon, along with descriptions for the uninitiated.

Ready to eat!

The dry ingredients, all purpose flour, chickpea flour, turmeric powder, yeast, and salt.

This is why you need a big bowl.

Frying

All finished.

This recipe makes enough for 8 people as a starter giving each person 2 golf ball size pholourie. If you’re making them as a liming (party) snack, I would just double or triple this recipe and make them about the size of a doughnut hole.

For the Pholourie

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of chickpea flour (typically you use ground dhal or yellow split pea powder)

1 tbsp turmeric powder

2 1/2 tsp of yeast

1 tbsp green seasoning

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups of water

6 cups of oil for frying

Equipment

Medium/large mixing bowl

Measuring jug for water

Measuring cups

Candy thermometer (to regulate your oil temperature)

Cling film or kitchen towel

Pot or pan for deep-frying

1. First, grab a clean medium sized mixing bowl and add all of your dry ingredients, flour, turmeric, yeast, and salt, then mix together thoroughly.

2. Add in the water a bit at a time until a loose paste is formed water until a thick paste is formed. You want it to be the consistency of cheesy grits, not too wet and not too dry.

3. Add in your green seasoning and mix well.

4. Now cover you bowl loosely with cling film and let rest for about 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

5. Add the oil to your pot with the thermometer and bring the heat up to frying temperature.

6. Once the oil is at temperature use you hand or a spoon to add the batter to the oil in the shape of balls. Don’t over crowd the pot and keep an eye on your oil temp. Let them fry for about 5-7 minuets then place on paper towel to drain the excess oil.

These go really well with mango chutney and tamarind chutney.