Street Food - Jamaican Festivals

 

Even though they're quite sweet, Jamaican Festival Dumplings are usually served with savoury foods such as salt fish or jerk chicken. We're having them on their own as they'd be eaten from a street food stall.

This recipe makes 12 festivals.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the butter and milk. 

Knead it inside the bowl for about a minute.

Cut the dough into twelve and roll each piece in your hand to make a sausage like shape.

Heat up some oil in a pan, about 3 inches deep. When the oil is hot (test a tiny piece of dough and see if it bubbles and floats), put 3 or 4 dough pieces in the pan and fry for 7 minutes. Keep going until they're all fried a lovely golden brown.

Remove with a slotted spoon to some kitchen paper to drain the oil and sprinkle with some sugar to serve.

Mmm, these were lovely fresh from frying! The cornmeal in the dough gives it a grainy texture throughout, crispy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside. They break up easily and went well with a drizzle of honey. I can see how they'd be a nice contrast to spicy savoury food. Kind of like eating a sweet cornbread muffin with chilli. JD and I enjoyed them but eating street foods seems to involve a lot of frying things in oil. I'll be glad when I move on to my next project! Still two more street foods before that happens though and both fried food 😁