South America → Guyana → Demerara (Georgetown)
🍢 SNACK
Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters)
Airy, golden fried balls of soaked yellow split peas blended with garlic and hot pepper, spiced with turmeric and cumin, dipped in sour mango or tamarind chutney.
Guyanese · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 20 min · plus 9 h hands-off time
~319 cal · 10g protein · 43g carbs · 13g fat · 8g fiber · 8g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pholourie is a snack of the Indo-Caribbean, brought to Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname by the Indian indentured labourers who came to work the sugar estates after the end of slavery in the nineteenth century, and adapted to what the new home had. In Guyana it is everywhere: sold hot in paper bags from school gates and street stalls, and set out as the appetizer at religious gatherings, birthday parties and whenever friends get together.
The batter is built on yellow split peas, soaked overnight and blended smooth with garlic and a fiery wiri wiri or pepper, then mixed with flour, turmeric, geera (roasted cumin), salt, yeast and baking powder and left to rise until light and bubbly. Many cooks use split pea flour or a ready-made mix instead, but soaked whole peas give the richest flavour.
Walnut-sized dollops go into hot oil, where they swell and turn golden, crisp outside and soft and spongy within. The essential partner is a sour: a sharp, hot, sweet-sour chutney of green mango or , and pholourie is dunked in it on every bite.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 1/2 cup (100 g) yellow split peas, dry
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 wiri wiri peppers, or 1/2
- 1 scallion, finely chopped
- about 1/2 cup water (for blending)
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp geera (ground roasted cumin)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup (95 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 l vegetable oil, for frying
- 1/2 cup mango sour or sour (chutney), to serve
Instructions
- 1Cover the split peas with plenty of water and leave them to soak overnight, at least 8 hours, until doubled in size.
- 2Drain the peas and blend them with the garlic, peppers and just enough water to cover, until very smooth.
- 3Tip into a bowl and stir in the turmeric, geera and salt, then the yeast, baking powder, flour and scallion. Mix well into a thick, sticky batter that holds its shape on a spoon.
- 4Cover and leave in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours, until puffy and bubbly.
- 5Heat about 5 cm of oil in a deep pan to 175C (350F). Drop in walnut-sized dollops with two spoons, or squeeze the batter out between thumb and forefinger. Fry in batches for 3 to 5 minutes, turning, until golden all over.✎ Chef’s noteA test fritter should sink and pop straight back up. If it stays down, the oil is too cool; if it browns in a minute, the middle will be raw.
- 6Drain on paper and serve warm with mango or tamarind sour for dipping.
Indo-Guyanese tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Demerara (Georgetown). The Christmas association is a later habit. The Lokono original is an everyday pot, topped up and boiled through daily rather than saved for a season, and Guyana names pepperpot alongside chicken curry and cook-up rice as national dishes rather than singling any one of them out.
🗺️
Guyana. The Lokono original is an everyday pot, replenished with whatever meat comes in and boiled up again each day, rather than the Christmas dish it has become for many Guyanese households. Guyana names three national dishes rather than one: pepperpot, chicken curry and cook-up rice, which is a fair summary of a country with Amerindian, Indian and African kitchens side by side.
🌍
South America. The Andes are the potato's homeland and still hold something like four thousand native varieties, selected over thousands of years for altitude, colour and texture. The high plateau also worked out how to keep them: frozen overnight in the cold, trodden to press the water out, then dried in the sun into chuno, which stores for years.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Guyana
Guyanese PepperpotMeat slow-simmered in cassareep, cinnamon, and hot pepper until glossy black, the Amerindian-rooted Christmas classic.
Sada Roti with Tomato ChokaSoft griddled flatbread torn and dipped into smoky fire-roasted tomato choka sharpened with garlic and onion, a vegan Guyanese classic.
Cook-up RiceA one-pot of rice and peas simmered in coconut milk with meat and herbs, Guyana's Saturday-night comfort dish.
Browse all Guyana recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Guyana meal
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters)?
Airy, golden fried balls of soaked yellow split peas blended with garlic and hot pepper, spiced with turmeric and cumin, dipped in sour mango or tamarind chutney.
Where does Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters) come from?
Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters) is a Guyanese dish from Demerara (Georgetown), Guyana.
Can Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pholourie (Guyanese Split Pea Fritters) take to make?
About 9 h 40 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 9 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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