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Jamaican festival (sweet fried dumplings)
Festival is a Jamaican fried dumpling made with flour, cornmeal and a little sugar: crisp and golden outside, soft and lightly sweet inside. It is the classic partner for fried fish and jerk.
- 30 minutes
- Prep 15 minutes
- Cook 15 minutes
- Serves 4
Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.
Ingredients
- 150g plain flour
- 75g fine cornmeal (sold as fine cornmeal or fine polenta)
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- A quarter teaspoon salt
- Half a teaspoon vanilla extract
- 500ml vegetable oil, for frying
Let's cook
- Mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
- Stir the vanilla into 100ml cold water. Pour it into the bowl a little at a time, mixing with your hand, until it comes together as a soft dough that is not sticky. You may need a spoonful more water or flour.
- Knead the dough on the worktop for 2 minutes until smooth. Cover it with the upturned bowl and leave it to rest for 10 minutes. Resting makes it easier to shape.
- Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each one between your palms into a sausage about 10cm long and a little fatter in the middle, like a small cigar.
- Pour the oil into a deep, heavy pan so it is about 4cm deep. Never fill a pan more than a third full. Heat it on a medium heat to 170C; if you have no thermometer, a small piece of dough should sizzle and float up in about 30 seconds.
- Fry 4 festivals at a time for 4 to 5 minutes, turning them often with tongs, until deep golden all over. Lift them out onto kitchen paper.
- Fry the rest the same way and serve warm.
Tips
- Do not crowd the pan: too many at once cools the oil and the festivals turn greasy.
- If they brown in under 3 minutes the oil is too hot and the middle will be raw. Turn the heat down a little.
- Let the oil cool completely in the pan before you pour it away or keep it.
Swaps
- Spiced: add a pinch of ground nutmeg or cinnamon to the dry mix.
- Less sweet: use 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Tags
In Plant powered.
Contains: Cereals containing gluten .
Contains gluten from the plain flour. Cornmeal and baking powder are usually gluten free, but check the packets.
Check every packet for allergens.