Pulourie (Guyanese Fritters)
April 4, 2009
We’ve been hitting a nearby indoor farmer’s market this winter, which features only a small amount of produce but many vendors selling pickles, cheese, meats, and so on. A couple of weeks ago we stopped by the booth of Guyank Brand, which was sampling their hot sauce and pulourie — a fritter made of ground yellow split peas, flour, and plenty of spice — made from their own dry mix. While Guyank’s version of this fritter comes from Guyana, I found lots of similar recipes online from around the Caribbean. I bought a bag of the mix to try at home.
I absolutely hate the mess that comes with frying food, so I rarely do it (I even bake my falafel rather than frying them). I’m not sure what I was thinking when I decided to make this dinner! You just add water to the Guyank mix, and drop the batter into hot oil. They’re supposed to be deep fried, but I put about a quarter inch of canola oil into a skillet and pan fried them that way. They wound up a lot flatter than the puffy version I tried at the farmer’s market, but were still golden and appealing.
The pulourie reminded me a lot of Middle Eastern falafel, but with a much finer texture. Even if I didn’t mind frying, these fritters were a one-time treat. That first bite… yum! So delicious! And then it’s just spicy and fried and you’re wishing for a salad and a big glass of water. I served them with steamed broccoli (which I seriously undercooked) and baked chicken.
Renee and GG liked them a lot, but I think they’d agree that now that they’ve had them once, they never need to try them again. The boys wouldn’t try them. And even my intrepid toddler niece, who eats nearly everything we put in front of her, was ambivalent about them. I should have bought the hot sauce instead.
Print this post
Filed under: Veggie Sides
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
Want to Try Archives
2 Comments
1.
merrie | April 5, 2009 at 5:25 pm
They look delicious.
2.
dave | April 10, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I bought the same mix from their booth at a pepper festival and made them the same way skillet in oil]. I just made the 1st batch and made the batter from the directions [6 tbs mix + 1/3 cup water]. It came out thin, like pancake batter. I basically made small flat mini pancakes. They tasted great, but what’s the proper way
[proportions] to get them puffy. Do I just add more mix to the 1/3 cup water?
Dave, my only guess about getting them puffy is to deep fry them (like, in a fryer). I think if you do a shallow amount of oil like we both did, they’re going to be flat. — Dara
TrackBack URL
Trackback this post