Jamaican Festivals Recipe
These crisp and soft dough balls are delicious and easy to make. With a quick mix of cornmeal, flour and a few other ingredients, you can fry a fresh batch of these int he convenience of your home kitchen! Enjoy this on its own or paired as a side dish.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups self-raising flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp all-spice
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup cold water
- vegetable oil for deep-frying
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, sift in the self-raising flour, cornmeal, sugar and all-spice, mix until well combined.
- Add in the butter and incorporate until the consistency is grainy.
- In a cup, mix together the water and vanilla extract, begin adding it into the dry ingredients until the dough forms into a slightly sticky dough. Cover and let sit for 45 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8-10 equal parts. Flour a surface and roll each dough in a cylindrical fashion until you have two pointed ends. Repeat this process for all the dough portions.
- Heat up your oil to 350℉ in a deep large pot or pan, begin to drop in the festivals, it is fine to fry in 2 batches so the oil is not overcrowded. Let it fry on medium to low heat on all sides until golden brown and crisp.
- Transfer to a sheet lined with paper towels to drain off any excess grease.
Notes
Tips
- Sifting the dry ingredients helps to get rid of any possible lumpiness or coarseness that may develop in the dough, it is best not to skip this step.
- It is important to add in the water in bits until the dough becomes shaggy. Putting too much water can result in overly soft and non-pliable dough. If the water is too little, this can cause hard dough, a good balance is needed.
- When frying, the temperature of the oil should not be too hot, if so, you may end up with burned festivals that are not cooked through properly.