Learn how to make a gluten free rendition of the infamous street food called Pholourie. It's crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. It's a completely foolproof Indo-Caribbean recipe that's perfect to serve with chutney.
Oh pholourie, pholourie...I do love pholourie and if you're from Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana then you already will be very familiar with this delicacy.
I first had my real taste of pholourie courtesy of family friends from sweet TNT (Trinbago).
We were so close with them that we would sometimes do a culinary exchange when we had dinner parties, merging both foods that were specific to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Although Guyanese people eat pholourie too, to my knowledge both islands make theirs slightly different.
When I first tried pholourie is wasn't gluten free, it was made with a combination of split pea powder and all purpose flour and boy did it taste good.
I was fortunate enough to have a choice between mango and tambran chutney, there was even some pepper sauce to use for dipping so I went ahead and tried all three.
Needless to say, I loved the chutney AND the pepper sauce, trust me when I say it was fantastic and unforgetable.
What is pholourie?
Sometimes spelt as Phulourie or phoulourie is a popular Indo-Caribbean street in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname (although Suriname is not considered part of the Caribbean).
The snack is made from flour, split peas or some people prefer to use split pea powder/flour, water, herbs, spices and additional ingredients.
Each person may vary their pholourie recipe but the primary ingredients (flour, split peas whether whole or ground and water).
It is not uncommon to find other ingredients such as jeera (cumin), onion, garlic, chadon beni, pepper, turmeric, saffron and so fourth included.
A dough is made with all of the aforementioned ingredients which is left to rest.
Then a small amount of the dough is dropped into hot oil in a frying pan using either the hand or spoon method.
The dough is deep fried until crispy and is then transferred onto some kitchen towel ready to be served with chutney.
Ingredients you need
- Cassava/brown rice/sorghum flour - This is a trio of gluten free flour that you need to make the pholourie, try to use the same three, although amaranth can work in place of sorghum flour.
- Tapioca starch - Not to be mistaken for cassava flour, tapioca starch is used for elasticity.
- Instant yeast/baking powder - Both are used as raising agents and help to make your pholourie light and airy.
- Xanthan gum - This helps with structure and binding.
- Split pea flour/powder - This is simply split peas that have been milled into a fine consistency and is a must in pholourie recipes.
- Turmeric - Ground turmeric, although optional for colour.
- Raw cane sugar - To activate the yeast.
- Pink salt/ chadon beni - To enhance the flavour/taste.
- Luke warm water - Used to form the dough.
- Coconut oil - For frying
Recipe preparation
My version of pholourie is gluten free and let me put this disclaimer out there.
Yes, this recipe does require frying, it doesn't work in the oven or air fryer.
Please note that this recipe was highly requested via email by my readers who wanted a gluten free version of pholourie.
I was very reluctant to make this recipe especially since I couldn't create a baked or air fried version so I decided to make a fried version to fulfill the demand of my readers.
Moing forward, I will be taking specific recipe request when there is a huge demand for a specific recipe from time to time.
The flour is made up of sorghum, cassava, tapioca, brown rice flour and split pea flour/powder.
This combination gives the best results in my humble opinion along with a small amount of instant yeast, xanthan gum and baking powder.
These ingredients help to bind everything together due to the "gluten" being missing a long with the yeast which is a raising agent.
You will need to add all of these ingredients to a large bowl along with some sugar (this helps to activate the yeast), turmeric - I like to add some to yield a more yellow tone to my pholourie and pink salt/chadon beni for taste.
I don't add a lot of additional seasoning to my pholourie, infact I like to keep it simple but at this point you can add more ingredients if you wish.
Luke warm is slowly added until a loose dough almost like a batter consistency is created.
Gluten free pholourie does yield quite abit of water, so I prefer to use my hand mixer to create a smooth, hassle free consistency rather than do it by hand.
Then the dough needs to be covered and left to rest so it can double in size. I always fast track this step but leaving the bowl to rest in a warm area.
It takes roughly 30 minutes for my dough to rise but yours may take longer so patience is key here.
You will know when the dough is ready due to its size, when you uncover it, it will appear double in size with a light/airy texture to it.
The next thing you need to do is to setup for frying station, I personally like to use a SMALL frying pan and my approach is to shallow fry my pholourie.
This helps to reduce the amount of oil that is used, there's no way around not using any oil but we can focus more on keep it relatively low and using the right type of oil.
Coconut oil has a great smoke point so when I do need to fry something is a bit more oil then I would normal use then coconut oil is my go to.
I used about one cup of oil in my small frying pan, less oil means having to turn the pholourie over, when you drop the dough into the pan.
You will need a bowl of water for which ever method that you want to use to drop the dough into the frying pan.
You can either dip your fingers into the bowl of water before scooping up a small amount of dough and dropping it into the hot oil
Alternatively, you can use 1-2 spoons and dip the spoon(s) into the water before scooping up some of the dough and dropping it into the oil.
I make about 6 at a time, as they fry, I keep my eye on them and turn them over after about a minute because they cook very fast.
Once cooked I use a slotted spoon to remove the pholourie before transferring them onto a cooling rack with kitchen towel.
The steps
- In a large bowl, combine together the cassava flour, tapioca startch brown rice flour, sorghum flour, split peas powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, yeast, turmeric, raw cane sugar, turmeric, pink salt and chadon beni.
- Start to pour the lukewarm water into the bowl (you should need all of the water), while using your hand held mixer at the same time until a smooth soft dough is formed.
- Cover the bowl with saran wrap/cling film and leave to rest until the mixture doubles in size (I left mine in a warm place for 30 minutes).
- Uncover the bowl, the dough should look light and airy.
- Set up your frying station, by having a bowl of water next to your bowl of dough.
- Preheat a frying pan (I'm using a small one) on medium-heat with enough oil to shallow fry the pholourie (I used one cup, but you may want to use more/less).
- Dip your spoon/fingers (depending on what method you are using) in the bowl of water, then scoop up a small amount of the dough.
- Carefully drop it in the oil and repeat the above step.
- Fry the dough until golden brown, for shallow frying you will need to flip the pholourie over.
- Once cooked through, use a slotted spoon to remove the pholourie and place them on a cooling rack with kitchen towel.
Notes and tips
- You don't need to specifically purchase split pea powder/flour, you can simply ground the stated amount in a coffee/spice grinder.
- The mixture will make a large quantity of pholourie (a few dozen).
- It is very important that you preheat your oil before dropping the dough into the oil.
- The amount of oil that you use will be subjective, as a general guide you want enough to cover half of the pan.
- To reduce the amount of oil being used it is best to use a small frying pan and make small batches.
- The pholourie dough should float as soon as you drop it into the frying pan, if it doesn't that is a indication that the oil isn't hot enough.
- The shape of the pholourie may vary, I find that using the spoon method doesn't make the pholourie very round so keep this in mind.
- Be quick when dropping your dough into the oil so they can fry in unison.
More recipes to try
- Trinidad Coconut Bake (Gluten Free)
- Jamaican Fried Dumpling
- Tomato Choka
- Breadfruit Fries
- Brown Rice Flour Bread Recipe
- Jamaican Bread Pudding
- Plantain Bread
- Gluten Free Roti
More sauce and chutneys to try
- Tamarind Chutney Recipe
- Guava Bbq Sauce
- Jamaican Jerk BBQ Sauce
- Caribbean Curry Sauce
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce
- Mango Pineapple Hot Sauce
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Pholourie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup cassava flour (120g)
- ½ cup tapioca starch (60g)
- ½ cup brown rice flour (80g)
- ¼ cup sorghum flour (30g)
- ¼ cup split peas powder (50g)
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (3g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
- 1½ teaspoon instant yeast (18g)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric (2g)
- 2 teaspoon raw cane sugar (8g)
- ½ teaspoon pink salt (3g)
- ½ tablespoon chadon beni (8g) optional
- coconut oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine together the cassava flour, tapioca startch brown rice flour, sorghum flour, split peas powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, yeast, turmeric, raw cane sugar, turmeric, pink salt and chadon beni.
- Start to pour the lukewarm water into the bowl (you should need all of the water), while using your hand held mixer at the same time until a smooth soft dough is formed.
- Cover the bowl with saran wrap/cling film and leave to rest until the mixture doubles in size (I left mine in a warm place for 30 minutes).
- Uncover the bowl, the dough should look light and airy.
- Set up your frying station, by having a bowl of water next to your bowl of dough.
- Preheat a frying pan (I'm using a small one) on medium-heat with enough oil to shallow fry the pholourie (I used one cup, but you may want to use more/less).
- Dip your spoon/fingers (depending on what method you are using) in the bowl of water, then scoop up a small amount of the dough.
- Carefully drop it in the oil and repeat the above step.
- Fry the dough until golden brown, for shallow frying you will need to flip the pholourie over.
- Once cooked through, use a slotted spoon to remove the pholourie and place them on a cooling rack with kitchen towel.
Notes
- You don't need to specifically purchase split pea powder/flour, you can simply ground the stated amount in a coffee/spice grinder.
- The mixture will make a large quantity of pholourie (a few dozen).
- It is very important that you preheat your oil before dropping the dough into the oil.
- The amount of oil that you use will be subjective, as a general guide you want enough to cover half of the pan.
- To reduce the amount of oil being used it is best to use a small frying pan and make small batches.
- The pholourie dough should float as soon as you drop it into the frying pan, if it doesn't that is a indication that the oil isn't hot enough.
- The shape of the pholourie may vary, I find that using the spoon method doesn't make the pholourie very round so keep this in mind.
- Be quick when dropping your dough into the oil so they can fry in unison.
Kathleen says
All the flavor in this pholourie recipe sounds fabulous. I appreciate your suggestions for dipping, and I know my family are going to really enjoy this.
Charla says
Thanks Kathleen
Sisley says
These were a fun thing to make. I hadn't had them before.
Charla says
Glad to hear that.
Tara says
Oooh, this pholourie definitely does sound unforgettable, especially paired with the chutney. I absolutely love that texture.
Charla says
Thanks Tara
Paula says
Oooh this looks tasty. I love trying street food in different countries when I visit, and I'm excited to make this one at home.
Charla says
You will love them Paula