Jamaican Boiled Dumplings – The Best Recipe!

The best thing about food is that it can connect people from all over the world. Learning about new cultures starting with their cuisines is always fun and will lead to new discoveries every single time. When exploring Jamaican cuisine, you are likely to learn about Jamaican boiled dumplings. What are they? How are they made? All the answers you could ever need are right here.

Table of Contents

• What are Jamaican Boiled Dumplings?
  • What are Jamaican Boiled Dumplings made of?
• How To Make Jamaican Boiled Dumplings?
  • Ingredients
  • Preparation
  • Cooking
  • Serving
• Jamaican Boiled Dumplings Nutrition Facts
• FAQs on Jamaican Boiled Dumplings

What are Jamaican Boiled Dumplings?

Jamaican dumplings are comfort food that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They are crispy on the outside while being perfectly soft on the inside.

Not only are they great food for a household, but they are also made all the time at the roadside restaurants populating Jamaica and the hotels. They are known to other Caribbean countries as ‘bakes’ and are also popular in Trinidad, Saint Lucia, and Guyana.

Jamaican dumplings are known for being able to go with absolutely anything and complete a meal without seeming out of place. Similar to other types of dumplings such as English dumplings, Asian dumplings, and Jewish dumplings.

What are Jamaican Boiled Dumplings made of?

The dumplings are made from a dough that is made from:

• flour
• salt
• baking powder
• butter
• water

The only other ingredient commonly used is vegetable oil, which the fried version of the dumplings are cooked in, until they are golden brown and crispy.

How To Make Jamaican Boiled Dumplings?

You would think that a dish this beloved and adored would be difficult to make. Thankfully, you are far from the truth. Jamaican dumplings are incredibly easy to make and can be done so by novice chefs and home cooks alike.

Jamaican dumplings are made the same, yet they have two different methods of being cooked. One of these is being fried in vegetable oil, while the other method is boiling them in water. Both methods cook the dumplings, although when they are fried they have a crispy exterior.

Ingredients

For the perfect Jamaican dumplings, you will not need much in terms of ingredients. Similar to other dumpling recipes, there is nothing difficult to find.

The ingredients you will need are:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
• ¼ cup of cornmeal
• ½ cup of cold water

If you are wanting these to be slightly healthier, you can swap the salt out with pink salt instead. This is healthier for the heart and will not cause your blood levels to spike as much as sea salt does.

Preparation

1. To begin, you will want to sift the flour, cornmeal, and salt together into a large mixing bowl. Doing this will get rid of any clumps so that you can have an easier time when it comes to mixing all of the ingredients together. The end result should not have any clumps in it, and sifting the ingredients together can prevent this.
2. After your dry ingredients are together in a mixing bowl, it is time to add your cold water. It is best to do this slowly as you can always add more water, yet you cannot take water away once you have added it.
3. Add your water 3 teaspoons at a time until the dough comes together with a firm consistency. If you do accidentally add too much water, you can add a 50/50 mix of flour and cornstarch to it to try and bring it back to a dough consistency.
4. Once your dough is made, knead it and roll it around the bowl until it is no longer sticking to the sides. After this, lightly flour your work surface so that you can knead your dough more without it sticking to the surface.
5. When your dough is on the floured surface, knead it for about five minutes until it is properly combined and consistent dough.

Cooking

As these are boiled dumplings, the cooking method is going to differ a lot from other recipes. Usually, they would be fried in vegetable oil. However, these ones shall be boiled in water.

1. Before doing anything else, fill a pot with water and place it on the hob so that you can bring it to a boil.
2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, you will want to break off pieces of the dough and shape them into slightly flat biscuits. These should ideally be 2 inches wide and half an inch thick.
3. Once the water is boiling, gently place the dumplings in the water and ensure that you do not overcrowd them.
4. They will take roughly 5-8 minutes before they are done.

Serving

Once your Jamaican dumplings are done, they will be ready to be served alongside hot food. This can be any dish of your choice. They will work well with anything.

To remove them from the water, it is best to use a slotted spoon so that you do not have to try and drain them.

Jamaican Boiled Dumplings Nutrition Facts

The nutrition in Jamaican dumplings is nothing surprising. There is no excess of a singular ingredient, so no nutritional levels are alarmingly high.

There are roughly 337 calories per serving, as well as 4 grams of fiber.

The sodium levels will vary depending on if you used sea salt or pink Himalayan salt. The latter will lead to a lower amount of sodium being in your dumplings.

FAQs on Jamaican Boiled Dumplings