Greetings Hivers, these Jamaican-ish style dumplings are a hit with my family, and are a product of me accidentally Indianizing any recipe I have in the kitchen for too long.
Normally Jamaican style dumplings are very simple, consisting of only flour, baking powder, salt, oil, and water. While I still love plain dumplings, years ago I began to experiment with adding small amounts vegetables and spices to the dumpling batter, and the results were delicious.
The trick with these dumplings are to work them with oily hands, because they have so much vegetable content, the dough becomes trickier to work with, much more like a fritter than a dumpling. A little patience, some slippery hands, and a hot pan of oil is all you need to turn this dough into some amazingly delicious dumplings, especially when paired with a nice soup or curry.
🥯 Ital Dumpling Ingredients 🌶️
- chapati flour | 2 cups
- baking powder | 1 tbsp
- salt | 1 tsp
- olive oil | 1 tbsp
- white onion | 1x
- garlic | 3 cloves
- tomato, small | 1x
- Madame Jeanette chili, red | 1x
- coriander powder | 1 tsp
- cumin seed | ½ tsp
- ajwain | ½ tsp
- kalonji | 2 tsp
- vegetable oil | ½ inch (for frying)
🔥 Dumpling Preparation 👨🍳
STEP 1
Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder, mix to incorporate, then add the olive oil. Break the olive flour clumps apart as much as possible by placing between your fingers and rubbing them.
STEP 2
Begin by adding a bit of water to the dough and mix just enough to form clumps of dry dough. Now mince or finely chop the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and chili pepper, and add to the partially formed dough along with all the dry spices.
STEP 3
Mix the dough and add water as necessary to form a soft dough. You will not be able to work the dough as you can with normal dumpling dough because the vegetables prevent the elasticity, so just fold and turn the dough until all the ingredients are incorporated.
STEP 4
With oily hands, grab a ping-pong sized or slightly larger piece of the dough, roll it in your hands to form a smooth round shape, and gently place in a pan of hot oil. Fry and turn until golden brown on both sides, then serve alone or with your favorite curry or soup.
Today I happened to make a corn and tomato rasam that paired nicely with these fiery dumplings. Honestly though, you don't have to put chilies in things just because you can, and these are delicious dumplings even without the dangerous Madame Jeanette in the mix.
Remember to store your fresh dumplings in a place safe and hidden from other family members' greedy fingers until all dumplings have been fried and ready for enjoyment to the fullest.
If you like, you can even dissect these dumplings to see what it looks like in there. Hint, it looks like the inside of a dumpling.
The family waited way too long for this meal, so there was no time for fancy photos, just time to eat and smile and see who can down the most dumplings during this full lockdown weekend in Paramaribo.