Sweet Jamaican Plantain Dumplings

I found this recipe for Jamaican Plantain Dumplings at foodnetwork.com while searching for a Jamaican recipe to make for the My Kitchen My World January destination, Jamaica. I think these are served as a bread / side for dinner, but since I was making these for an afternoon snack, the cinnamon and sugar coating sounded just right. I was also thinking the kids would be more willing to try these if I presented them as a sweet snack...

Jamaican Dumplings with Plantains

Tyler Florence via foodnetwork

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup milk (I had to use 1 full cup of skim milk to get the dough to the right consistency)
• 1 ripe plantain, peeled and cut into coins (I used 1 and 1/2 plantains)
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a food processor and pulse to combine. Toss in the cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Add milk, a little bit at a time until it is completely worked into the dough. Once it comes together into a nice consistent ball and pulls away from the sides of the food processor, divide the dough into about 12 little balls.

Push a slice of plantain into the middle of each ball and pinch the dough around the plantain so it is completely covered by the dough.

Press each ball flat into a little cake, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes before frying.

Set a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Prick the dumplings all over with a fork. Working in batches, pan-fry dumplings until golden and slightly puffy, about 3 to 5 minutes per side.


Season with salt (I used cinnamon and sugar instead) and serve warm.

Season with salt (I rolled them in cinnamon sugar instead) and serve warm.

~~~

The dumpling had a great flavor and went well with the cinnamon and sugar even though the dumpling dough was not sweet itself. The plantain flavor was subtle yet yummy. My mom who was visiting liked these a lot and said they reminded her of paczkis. Unfortunately the kids did not really like these, not sure why, I think they were a little unsure about the plantains since they looked like blackened bananas, which they noticed when I was making these...oh-well. This were definitely a fun recipe to make, and I thought they were delicious :)

Jamaican Carrot Soup with Coco Bread

This is such a delicious soup! I first found the recipe when looking up Jamaican foods and knew I had to try it, this is my adapted version, the original I found on fooddownunder.com. I decided to serve it with Jamaican Coco Breads which have become a favorite around here. I finally figured out that they are called Coco Breads, even though they do not contain cocoa or coconut, because you split them open to serve like you break open a coconut. Pretty neat, huh?

Jamaican Carrot Soup

4 cups vegetable broth
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger (or powdered ginger)
1 teaspoon roasted garlic

2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 teaspoon vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (World Harbors is my favorite brand)
1 teaspoon red curry powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of Tabasco
Salt and pepper to taste

Diced red-skinned apples for garnish

Place broth, carrots, onion powder, ginger, garlic, peanut butter, Worcestershire sauce and curry powder in a large saucepan. Bring to boil. Lower heat. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, or until carrots are very tender. Cool slightly.

Blend with immersion blender until very smooth or to desired consistency. Add nutmeg, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Garnish with diced or fanned apple slices.

I really love the flavors and ease of preparing this soup. You can make it spicy or mild depending on who you are serving. I wanted to post this today for Deb at Kahakai Kitchen and her Souper Sundays event which is such a perfect idea for these fall and approaching winter months. And in this house, if you are going to have soup, you'd better make some bread to go with it :) Happy Soup Season!

Jamaican Coco Breads

I had never heard of Coco Breads until I started searching for Jamaican recipes last week and had no idea what to expect, their name would lead you to believe they were either chocolate or had some form of coconut in them, but nope, not these babies. I found a lot of recipes for coco breads and decided to blindly try this recipe Jamaican Coco Bread Recipe Recipezaar -- but I changed it up a bit and came up with this that you can start in the bread machine (or just knead with your KA dough hook)...

Jamaican Coco Breads

(adapted for the bread machine dough cycle -- 2 lb machine -- by me)

3 teaspoons bread machine yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
3 cups bread machine flour
1/2 cup butter, melted

Put the ingredients into your bread maker in the order suggested by your manufacturer, for mine it is liquids, flours, other dry ingredients, yeast.

With floured hands turn your dough out onto a work surface, lightly dust with flour and divide in two, the slightly roll each dough ball into two logs.

Cut into 10 portions (5 pieces per log)

Roll each portion into an approx 6 inch across circle

Brush with melted butter then fold in 1/2.

Brush with more butter and fold in 1/2 again.

Set breads on a oiled baking sheet and let them rise for 15 minutes

Bake for about 12 minutes at 400 F on middle rack or until golden brown.

Remove to cooling rack and let cool a few minutes but not too long, these are best served warm.

While doing my "research" about Coco breads I read that they are often used as a 'bun' for a Jamaican patty, which is kind of like a pasty...yeah, it seemed a little odd to me, double crust, but why not? If you google image search coco bread and patty you will see lots of pictures of how these are served in Jamaica or at Jamaican style restaurants. Kind of neat! I definitely want to try to make some vegetarian Jamaican patties in the future, they sound interesting and delicious!

These breads were amazing and everyone in my family loved them, they taste almost like a buttery dinner roll, and while I'm sure they are awesome filled with a 'patty' they would also be wonderful with jam and butter, or stuffed with just about anything... I slipped some jerk tofu in to one and it was delicious :)

Jamaican Dinner

Making a Jamaican dinner was so much fun! I made jerk tofu, rice and peas (really rice and beans but they call it rice and peas), Jamaican "coco" breads, and cinnamon sugar fried plantains!

I don't have time to do a whole write up with recipes now but I will add some more later, can't wait to see what everyone else came up with for My Kitchen My World Jamaica week :)