Jamaican Fried Dumplings (Gluten Free)

Learn how to make this delicious Jamaican fried dumplings. They are crispy on the outside with a fluffy interior and made using my homemade gluten free flour blend. This cooking method is non traditional but yields the same conventional results.

Dumplings or dumplin(g)(fry dumpling) as we would call them play a crucial role in the Jamaican culture.

**FOR THE SAKE OF GOOGLE SEARCH AND SEO TERMS THE TITLE IS "JAMAICAN FRIED DUMPLINGS" NOT "JAMAICAN FRY/FRIED DUMPLING"as the Jamaican linguistics would call it. I just wanted to clarify the reasons for that specific wording. It's not because I don't know what my own cultural cuisines are called**

If there is one food that you should be acquainted with, that's a dumpling. It's the type of food that is featured at special events, visiting a family/friends house or even a cookout.

When you are feeling hungry and want something that is culturally appropriate to eat, a quick dumpling fix will solve the problem.

What is a fried dumpling?

A fried dumpling, is also known as a johnny cake. It is made from flour (all purpose), baking powder, salt and water, although some people add a small amount of sugar or butter.

Sometimes self-raising flour which is available in the UK and can be used as a alternative to all purpose flour.

All of the ingredients are added together and knead into a doughball and then rolled into small/medium balls and fried in oil until the outside is golden with a fluffy inside.

Other islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St Lucia, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada refer to it as "fried bake/fry bake". 

The method is very similar to what Jamaicans make their however the shape tends to be flat and wider.

Fried dumpling are served as a side dish just like it's boiled counterpart. You can eat fried dumpling as a stand alone snack, or with meat stew fish/salt fish, vegetables such as callaloo and/or the Jamaican national dish.

You can serve it for breakfast or any time of the day for that matter.

The gluten free preparation and approach

Well you already know my approach is going to be different because by default my niche is gluten free and traditional fried dumpling is made with wheat flour.

I personally find that not all gluten free flour blends work for fried dumpling. If you grew up eating it and know how it should taste then you will be quite picky (like I am) in terms on how it should be done.

Without sounding biased (I promise this isn't the case, you will just have to trust my word on this one) I found that my homemade flour blend yields the best results.

I like dumpling that is crispy and fluffy, I hate dumpling that is tough and dense and I find some recipes out there fit that criteria.

Even when I grew up making dumpling with wheat flour my mother and grandma would make our dumpling larger and fluffy than most peoples and that's how I was taught to make mine.

Similar to my roti recipe, I would recommend following my lead on how I make this but if you choose not to then I cannot be held accountable if the results aren't as good.

 Anyway, I'm going to recommend a few things to do in order to really get the best results using my method.

Use a stand mixer, I know traditionally, any dumpling, be it boiled or fried is made using our hands. However, I find that the mixer creates much smoother dough to work with.

Because gluten free flour has no gluten you don't need to worry about over kneading the dough so I let the mixer run for a few minutes without worrying about the texture becoming too tough.

I also don't leave the dough to rest, that is something that you can omit.

 Another thing, infact this is a requirement not a recommendation, you must use milk, I use almond milk, which is a neutral tasting milk.

Omitting milk is non negotiable, infact you may aswell not make the recipe because water specifically for fried dumpling tastes awful, it just doesn't work.

It tastes funny and the texture is horrible and dense so you will want to use milk for this reason alone.

I also use vegan butter, I didn't use butter in the conventional method but I am aware that some people do so this is a new concept for me.

I must point out that you have to fry your dumpling, there is no way around this. Trust me, I have tried baking, air frying and so fourth but these method don't come close to the frying method.

Frying doesn't mean you need to use copious amounts of oil.

I use coconut oil because it has a very high smoke point, a very small frying pan and shallow fry the dumpling (not deep fat fry) and this method helps me to use less oil.

There really isn't a way around completely omitting the oil, with that being said, this is the type of recipe that I would advise to eat in moderation and not on a daily basis.

The steps

• Place the flour, baking powder, raw cane sugar and pink salt in a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment.
• Add the pieces of butter to the flour mixture.
• Run the mixer on low-medium speed to form a crumbly mixture (scrapping down the sides).

• While the mixer is still running gradually pour in the almond milk, do this is stages while as you don't want to add too much at once (you might not use all of the milk).
• Increase the speed to high until the dough is smooth (it may not form into a doughball). The dough should be smooth, not dense and not sticky.
• Transfer the dough into a medium sized bowl.

• Pinch off a roughly a golf ball (or slightly bigger) size amount of dough and roll into a ball and slightly flatten (not too flat though) so it looks similar to a disc and repeat with the rest of the dough  (you should have enough dough to make 6-8 dumplings).
• Preheat a small frying pan on medium heat with coconut oil (it MUST be hot).
• Carefully place the doughball in the frying pan (I like to do this is small batches so add 3-4 at a time).

• Reduce the heat to medium-low and fry the dumpling until the first side is golden (this will take several minutes so be patient). Use a spoon to baste the top and sides with oil and tilt the pan (this helps to aid the cooking process.
• Once the first side is cooked, be patient as it takes time, flip it over and repeat the above step until golden.
• Place the cooked dumpling on a kitchen towel to drain off any excess oil.
• Repeat the above 4 steps with the rest of the dough.

Notes and tips

• Use a small frying pan if possible, this will prevent the use of a large amount of oil.
• You will want enough oil to cover the lower half of the dumpling.
• The amount of sugar you add is subjective, I like a slightly sweet edge so 3 tablespoons works for me!
• Make sure the coconut oil is melted and HOT (not too hot though) before proceeding with frying.
• The best results, eat the dumpling straight away, I don't recommend re-heating, if you do re-heat them you MUST wrap them tightly in foil and put them in the oven for a few minutes to heat through.
• Don't rush the frying process, don't be tempted to increase the heat or you run the risk of the outside being golden but the inside is still raw.
• If you do decide to use another gluten free flour, you are doing this at your risk. As explained in my post. I find my flour blend works the best, but do what works for you!
• If you do need to top the oil up, add BETWEEN the batches, and make sure the oil is melted/heated through before adding more dumplings to the pan.

Other dumpling recipes to try

• Festival Dumpling
• Coconut Dumpling
• Boiled Dumpling
• Cassava Dumpling
• Cornmeal Dumpling
• Green Banana Dumpling

Dishes to pair with

• Ackee and Saltfish
• Callaloo
• Jamaican Steamed Cabbage
• Caribbean Stewed Fish
• Cabbage and Shrimp
• Saltfish
• Stewed Red Kidney Beans
• Jackfruit Run Down
• Vegan Caribbean Breakfast
• Curried Butter Beans
• Oxtail and Butter Beans

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