Vishwesh Bhatt’s Sweet Potato Turnovers with Cardamom and Black Pepper

Ingredients

• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup ghee
• 1 tsp. cracked black pepper
• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-​inch cubes
• ¾ cup seedless raisins
• 1½ Tbsp. cracked black pepper (These should be fairly large pieces—​you can achieve this texture by cracking black peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or with the back of a spoon.)
• ¾ tsp. cardamom seeds, crushed (Crush enough green cardamom pods to yield ¾ tsp. seeds—​4 to 5 pods. Then, crush the seeds themselves with a mortar and pestle.)
• 4 Tbsp. cane sugar crystals, divided (You want a sugar with crystals that are larger than granulated sugar. This can be coarse sugar, sanding sugar, or turbinado.)
• 3½ to 4 cups all-​purpose flour, sifted, plus more for dusting
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
• 4 cups plus 6 tablespoons neutral oil, such as peanut or canola, divided