Fried · Split-Pea Snack

Pholourie

Photo: Grueslayer / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

It traveled to Trinidad in the memory of indentured laborers from India, adapted from a fritter called fuluri.

A spiced batter of ground split peas, flour, turmeric, garlic, and scotch bonnet is dropped by the spoonful into hot oil, frying into small golden balls. Vendors sell them by the bag with a thin, sweet-tart mango or tamarind chutney for dipping.

Why it's made this way: Pholourie arrived with Indian indentured laborers brought to Trinidad's sugar plantations after slavery's abolition, and the dish became one of the clearest everyday markers of Indo-Trinidadian influence on the island's street-food culture.