Pasteles....?

Question

How the hell do you make Pasteles?
I can't seem to find a good recepe.
Thanx

Answer 1

This is an authentic Costa rican Recipe

SOFRITO
1 bunch Cilantro, stems removed
6 x Cloves garlic
1 lrg Onion, roughly chopped
20 x Tiny aji dulce chilies (also called rocotillo peppers or cachucha, this is a tiny chili pepper that looks like a pattypan squash and looks hot and smells hot, but is actually as mild as a bell pepper)
3 x Green peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
1/4 cup Oil
2 tsp Salt

FILLING
2 tbl Shortening
1 lb Pork loin, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb Ham, chopped into small cubes
3 tbl Chopped stuffed green olives
3 tbl Tomato paste, diluted in 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup Sofrito

DOUGH
2 med Purple yautias (also called malanga, a root vegetable)
1 lrg Yuca (a.k.a. cassava or manioc)
2 x Green plantains
1/4 lb Pumpkin (or butternut squash)
1 tsp Paprika
1 tbl Shortening
10 x Banana leaves (if you can't find then substitute dried corn husks like are used in tamales) (up to 12)


To make sofrito, blend cilantro, garlic, onion, peppers, oil, and salt in a blender until smooth. Reserve 1/4 cup for this recipe and refrigerate or freeze the remainder in a tightly covered container (it will keep for several months).

For filling, fry meat in hot shortening until brown. Add olives, tomato paste, and 1/4 cup sofrito. Cook on low heat for almost 1 hour, then set aside to cool slightly. If all liquid has evaporated from meat, add a few more spoonfuls oil.

While meat is cooking, prepare dough. Peel yautias and yuca with a small, sharp knife. Grate with plantains and pumpkin or squash into a bowl. Add paprika and shortening and mix to form a soft dough.

To form pasteles, lay a banana leaf flat and cover with a little oil from meat mixture to soften the surface. Place 1/3 cup dough on leaf and spread into a rectangular shape about 1/4 inch thick. Put 2 to 3 tablespoons meat mixture on the left side of dough, then fold over the right side to enclose dough. Continue folding the leaf, tucking under the ends to make a neat, rectangular package. With kitchen string tie together 2 banana-leaf packets like a present.

Boil packages (this is what the recipe says but I assume they mean more like simmer, not hard boil) in a large pot of salted water for 45 minutes, making sure that they are always covered by water. Pasteles are done when the leaf peels easily from the dough inside.

Serves 10 to 12

This is labor intensive but, well worth the effort.

Answer 2

Pastelles

Ingredients
3 cups pre cooked corn meal
3 large chicken breasts
1 pound beef briskets
3 large white potatoes
2 large carrots
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon green seasoning
1 seeded scotch bonnet
2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup sliced green olives
1/2 teaspoon annato powder
Thyme - 4 sprigs
1 inch cube fresh ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt,
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Banana leaves or aluminum foil

Directions
Steam the chicken breasts with thyme sprigs and ginger. When cooked, remove the thyme and ginger, cool the chicken until able to handle and dice (1/4 inch).
Dice the beef into 1/4 inch cubes. Dice onions, potatoes and carrots into 1/4 cubes. Place oil in a large pot with a lid and add annato powder, scotch bonnet, onions, minced garlic and green seasoning.
Cook on medium until onions and garlic are soft and add beef and cook on high heat until no longer pink. Stir in chicken, potatoes and carrots and bouillon powder, cover and simmer on medium low heat for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Stir in the olives and raisins. Taste and add salt if needed. Set aside to cool.
Mix corn meal with 4 1/2 cups warm water and 1 teaspoon salt. Make a soft but manageable dough. Form dough into balls the size of an egg. Warm vegetable oil with annato powder and lightly coat banana leaf or foil squares with colored oil. Press out each ball of dough on prepared leaf or foil. Place 2/3 cup of filling on flattened dough and fold dough around the meat filling, Fold up the leaf or foil to secure the pastelles.
Tie leaf packages with string, not needed for foil packages if folded tightly. If pastelles will not be eaten immediately, freeze them uncooked in freezer bags. Otherwise steam packages for 30 minutes in a covered pot.


Cooking time:
Serves: 6
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