Pastelles are a Christmas essential in Trinidad and Tobago: a thin layer of soft cornmeal dough wrapped around a savoury filling of seasoned minced meat studded with raisins, olives and capers, folded in banana leaf and steamed. The sweet, salty and briny bits in the filling are what make a pastelle taste like a pastelle.
They are usually made in big batches, often by the whole family, and frozen to last the season. A pastelle press makes the dough easy to flatten evenly, but a heavy flat dish works too.
Beef is the most common filling. Chicken, pork, a mix, fish or a meat-free lentil filling are all made too; the substitutions give the amounts.
The recipe
Pastelles
Prep
2 hr
Cook
1 hr
Total
3 hr
Serves
24
Makes
About 24 pastelles
Times and quantities are our best estimates. This recipe is still being kitchen-tested, so trust your eyes and taste as you go.
Servings
Ingredient amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pot size may need adjusting too.
Ingredients
Tick items off as you gather them.
For the filling
For the dough
For wrapping
Method
Make the filling
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, garlic and peppers for 3 minutes until soft.
Add the beef and green seasoning and cook for about 10 minutes, breaking up the meat, until browned.
Stir in the tomato paste, salt and black pepper and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the mixture is moist but not wet.
Take off the heat and stir in the raisins, olives, capers and chadon beni. Leave to cool completely.
Prepare the leaves and dough
Wipe the banana leaves clean and soften each one by passing it over a gas flame, or dipping it in very hot water, until bright green and pliable. Brush the shiny side with oil.
Mix the cornmeal and salt, then stir in the melted butter and enough warm water to make a soft, smooth dough, like thick mashed potato. Rest for 10 minutes and divide into 24 balls.
Shape
Put a ball of dough on an oiled leaf, cover with a piece of oiled plastic, and press it into a thin round about 6 inches (15 cm) across with a pastelle press or a flat-bottomed dish. Peel off the plastic.
Spoon about 2 tbsp of filling into the middle. Fold the leaf in half so the dough closes over the filling, and press the edges together through the leaf.
Fold the leaf into a neat parcel, wrap in foil or baking paper, and tie two parcels together with string.
Cook
Steam the parcels, or lay them in a large pot of boiling water, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the dough is firm.
Leave to rest for 10 minutes before unwrapping.
Serve it with
Hot, unwrapped at the table on Christmas morning or at a lime
With pepper sauce
Substitutions
Chicken: use 2 lb (900 g) minced chicken, or finely chopped boneless thighs, cooked the same way.
Pork: use minced pork, or half pork and half beef for a richer filling.
Fish: use 2 lb (900 g) flaked cooked fish or desalted saltfish; cook the filling only 5 minutes once the fish goes in.
Meat-free: use 3 cups cooked brown lentils, or rehydrated soya mince, with 1 extra tbsp oil.
Banana leaves: foil lined with oiled baking paper works, without the leaf's fragrance.
Storing and reheating
Refrigerate cooked pastelles for up to 4 days.
Freeze, cooked or uncooked, in their wrapping for up to 3 months. Steam from frozen: cooked ones for 20 minutes, uncooked for 45 to 50 minutes.
Cook's notes
Keep the filling fairly dry; a wet filling makes the dough soggy.
Pressing the dough between oiled plastic stops it sticking and keeps it thin and even.
