TGI#fff!!
Wow! Can you believe it- it’s Friday and I come throwing food.
Something for the kids Dumplins /festival.
In keeping with my festive culture we have a food item called festival- are you surprised? Of course not!
This is simple and can be made with kids , great with fish and we Jamaicans love it with ackee and saltfish , escoveith fish or jerk chicken.
What you need:
Flour , baking powder , salt and sugar
Options : vanilla, cinnamon, butter, milk
I have been fortunate to teach a group of advanced elementary aged English learners who I teach various things including cooking. Since last month’s theme study was world festivals I taught them how to make - you guessed it!
- Add your basic dry ingredients
- Add your favorites from the options
- Mix together - kneed into a dough
- Break pieces of the dough - make round (called dumplings) or rectangular (called festivals)
- Lightly flatten
- Add sufficient oil to frying pan to cover up to half way up the festival
- Fry thoroughly on a low heat
- Bob’s your uncle! ready to eat in 10-15 minutes
- Variations : you’ll notice my students added food coloring - this was a first , we also wrapped the sausage in the dough before frying.
- Where I’m from in Jamaica there was a person Who used to add cooked ackee and salt fish to the dough then deep fry it( ackee corn)
- Some people added cooked and spiced corned beef
- For parties I do thinner and smaller versions and serve hot with vanilla ice cream 🍨 can’t beat that.
- For my other shares - December is Nomikai time in Japan.
- Nomikai or Nominication is a party where coworkers or classmates get together to drink and communicate
To be honest when I came to this country over a decade ago I was shocked at how much they drank. Then I had my culture shock - there is no direct communication about problems unless there is alcohol involved. So I have come to accept that Nomikais or drinking parties are a necessary way of life for this high stress society.
I was invited by some of my adult students to one this week and we dined on Chinese cuisine. There is a fairly large Chinese community in my native Jamaica so I really loved the chicken. It was a familiar taste to the Chinese food we had at home. There were other lovely things - some of which I couldn’t partake of but they were beautiful to look at.
1st up some pork and chicken - the pork I skipped - the chicken was cold but ok.
Chicken never fails - my favorite for the night.
Chilli shrimp came to the party but I didn’t dance with them.
Beef and stir fried vegetables lifted the mood a notch higher.
Couldn’t leave out the tofu- they wouldnt be pleased but I had to call on white rice to help me stomach them.
Pasta and veggies came in for a bit of spice but took it well.
A party without friends can be a lonely affair so these guys hit it off - whiskey and cola but shot glass would not be left out.
I did try this Chinese liquor served warm in shot glasses with sugar= dangerous! It is an acquired taste and smell but is obviously potent in the punch that it packs . Most people there who partook were instantly flush red in the face except me obviously 😂. It was a great night out - how about you? Do you have anything similar where you are from (food or practice that is) ?
Thanks for stopping by- this has been another# indeliblevibration! Peace and love !
