The Festival is a unique Jamaican form of dumpling, traditionally eaten with fired fish or the like. It’s basically a fried cornbread fritter or dumpling. Unlike traditional Jamaican fried dumplings (Johnny cakes), Festival is sweet, crisp on the outside and dense. In Jamaica Festival is usually sold by food vendors at Hellshire and other beaches.
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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Cornmeal
3 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Approx 1/2 cup cold Water
1 cup Cooking Oil
If you prefer a lighter Festival : use 3 Tbsp of cornmeal instead and adjust the amount of water needed to bind the dough
Method
- Mix dry ingredients together
- Add beaten egg and vanilla and mix gently until combined
- A bit at a time, add water, kneading until dough holds together.
- Knead dough until smooth and divide into 6 or more equal pieces; shape in long dumplings.
- Heat cooking oil on High in deep frying pan and place the Festival Dumplings in the pan one at a time.
- Reduce heat to Medium and turn Festival dumplings every few minutes until they are brown on all sides and are cooked through; they will expand as they cook.
Enjoy with fried fish Fish, or whatever you like!
