Saturday sun broke through the clouds and slanted across the kitchen counter. Trevor shuffled in at half past seven, knuckling sleep out of his eyes, and the smell caught him before the light did: onions and peppers gone soft in the pan, eggs, and underneath it all the warm oil-and-bread scent of the first batch of dumplings. His stomach yowled.
His mother kissed his cheek. “Mawnin’, son. Yuh ready fi learn how fi mek fry dumplin’?”
“Yes, Mummy!”
“First wi knead di dough. Den wi roll likkle balls.”
Sheila floured her hands and leaned into the dough, heel of her palm, fold, quarter-turn, heel of her palm. A dance, each step landing exactly where she meant it to. Trevor’s fingers twitched at his sides, already rehearsing. She pinched off pieces and rolled them against her palm, and each one came away round as a marble, as if her hands couldn’t produce anything else.
She tore off a piece and set it in front of him. “Yah. Yuh try. Do weh mi do.”
The dough gave under his fingers, soft as an earlobe, springing back where he pressed too hard. He kneaded. He rolled. His ball came out with a seam down one side, a little planet with a fault line. He flattened it into a disc anyway, the way she flattened hers.
Oil shimmered in the pan. Trevor rocked up onto his toes.
“How mi fi know when dem done?” He eyed the pan.
“Yuh wi know, man. Crispy an’ golden.”
The discs went in and the oil erupted around them, popping, spitting, hissing its one long syllable. Pale dough blushed at the edges, then browned, then swelled. His lopsided one bobbed among the others, browner on one side than the other.
“Cooking is a art, son. Patience an’ attention to detail.”
Trevor filed that away next to the marble-round balls and the heel-fold-turn of her hands. Simple ingredients. Flour, water, oil. And look.
Sheila lifted the dumplings out onto a plate. “Now di most important part. Taste it an’ tell mi weh yuh tink.”
He bit through the crust into the steam and the soft white middle, eyes shut, chewing slow.
“Dis nice, Mummy. Dis nice.” The grin took over his whole face.
She spooned eggs with onions and peppers beside his dumplings. “Cooking is all ’bout experimenting. Yuh can never tell weh yuh gwine create.”
Trevor ate the perfect ones first. He saved the lopsided one, his one, for last, and while he ate it he was already somewhere else: a room full of tables, plates going out, his name over the door. Next Saturday couldn’t come fast enough.
Recipe for Jamaican Fried Dumplings
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Slowly add the water to the dry ingredients, stirring until a dough forms.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.
Divide the dough into 8-10 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
Flatten each ball into a disc about 1/4 inch thick.
Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
Carefully place the flattened dough discs into the hot oil, ensuring not to overcrowd the pan.
Fry the dumplings for about 2-3 minutes on each side until they become golden brown and crispy.
Remove the dumplings from the oil with a slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel-lined plate to drain off any excess fat.
Serve the dumplings hot, and enjoy!
Recipe for Jamaican Fried Dumplings (made with butter)
This recipe from Sherry on TikTok uses butter, more baking powder than the recipe above, and shows the amount of oil needed to fry the dumplings. If the video below doesn’t load, try: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8R62T8p/
Author’s Note
West Africa, India, and Asia have influenced Jamaican cuisine. The fried dumpling, for example, can trace its origins to West African and Asian cooking styles, but has evolved into a unique Jamaican dish. Fried dumplings are a typical breakfast or lunch item in Jamaica. Often paired with callaloo (amaranth), ackee and saltfish, steamed cabbage, or scrambled eggs, they make a convenient morning meal.
To make fried dumplings, you need three primary components—flour, baking powder, and salt. Often, recipes include sugar and butter and, more recently, plant-based milk instead of water. Each additional ingredient (sugar, butter, plant-based milk) contributes to the overall flavor and texture of the dish. if adding these optional ingredients, you can experiment with the proportions. The shape of the fried dumplings can vary—they can be round, long, flat, or any other desired shape.
Tips:
The recipe calls for plain flour, which does not need sifting. Self-rising flour can also be used.
For the dumplings to achieve a soft texture, you must use baking powder, as the dumplings will be hard without it.
Salt provides a savory taste to the dumplings, while butter and sugar, if added, provide texture and sweetness.
Caribbean nations like Trinidad, Saint Lucia, and Guyana know fried dumplings as Bakes. Each Caribbean country prepares fried dough differently. Although the ingredients are consistent, the shape and texture vary.
Mom made fried dumplings (called fritters in the Cayman Islands), but she also made another version she called a “tortilla.” Instead of dividing the dough into pieces and rolling them into balls, she would take the dough after kneading it, flatten it into a large disc about a 1/4-inch thick, and wide enough to fit the frying pan, fry it on each side until golden brown and crispy, then cut it into wedges to serve. In the Cayman Islands, other Caribbean islands, and the Northeast United States some call my Mom’s version a johnnycake (albeit, one made without cornmeal).
I made a small “tortilla” or johnnycake in our smallest (6-inch diameter) cast-iron skillet, using half the recipe above for the fried dumplings. (I should have kneaded it longer, but I was impatient to eat it. 😉) Once flipped, I lowered the flame, covered the skillet, and cooked for another 12 minutes.
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I wonder if there is a keto method! Maybe one wouldn't hurt.
Neat little tale of cooking 101! Haven't tried the Jamaican version of fried dough. Looks yummy and added to bucket list!