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 Puerto Rican pasteles | |
| Type | Dumpling |
|---|---|
| Region or state | Latin American and Caribbean countries |
Pasteles (Spanish pronunciation:[pasˈteles]; singularpastel), alsopastelles in the English-speaking Caribbean, are a traditional dish in several Latin American and Caribbean countries. InPuerto Rico, theDominican Republic,Venezuela,Panama,Trinidad and Tobago, and theCaribbean coast ofColombia, the dish looks like atamal. In Hawaii, they are calledpateles in a phonetic rendering of the Puerto Rican pronunciation ofpasteles, as discussed below.
Related toalcapurria,tamales,hallacas, andguanimes, pasteles were originally made by the indigenous people of Boriquen (Puerto Rico).[citation needed]Tainos made masa from cassava, yautía and squash. The masa was then filled with beans, fruit, chilies, corn, nuts, meat, fish and wrapped in corn husk.[citation needed]
Puerto Rico has turned pasteles making into an art[according to whom?] having hundreds of recipes and an annual pastel festival (Festival Nacional del Pastel Puertorriqueño)[1] on the island.
In Puerto Rico, pasteles are a cherished culinary recipe, especially around Christmas-time. The masa consists of typically gratedgreen banana,green plantain, whiteyautía, potato, and tropical pumpkins known ascalabazas. It is seasoned with liquid from the meat mixture, milk, andannatto oil.[2] The meat is prepared as astew and usually contains any combination ofBoston butt, ham, bacon, raisins, chickpeas, sliced pickledpimiento peppers, olives and capers, and is commonly seasoned with bay leaves,recaito, tomato sauce,adobo seco, and annatto oil, but the seasoning is not limited to these nor are root vegetables. Filling can range from vegetables, poultry, fish,sausage, andgame meat.
Traditionally masa was flavored breadcrumbs and butter, almonds were added to the filling and a chili would be tucked on one end of every pastel. The chili in most homes is eliminated and is replaced withajilimójili,Pique sauce, or ketchup mixed with chili.
Assembling a typical pastel involves a large sheet of parchment paper, a strip of banana leaf that has been heated over an open flame to make it supple, and a little annatto oil on the leaf. The masa is then placed on banana leaf and stuffed with the meat mixture. The paper is then folded and tied with kitchen string to form packets. Some people use aluminum foil instead of parchment and string. Parchment paper is only applied if the pastel is boiled or steamed. Once made, pasteles can either be cooked in boiling water,steamed,barbecued (smoked or slow grilling), or frozen for later use. Because they are so labor-intensive, families often make anywhere from 50 to 200 or more at a time, especially around the holiday season.
Pasteles de yuca[3] is one of many recipes in Puerto Rico that are popular around the island and in Latin America. The masa is made withcassava, other root vegetables, plantains, and squash. The recipe calls for cassava to replace the green bananas of the traditionalpasteles de masa. Cassava is grated and squeezed through a cheesecloth removing most of its liquid. Broth, milk, butter, annatto oil is added to the masa and is typically filled with shredded chicken and other ingredients.
According to Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, the original name for a Puerto Rican Pastel wasMamie. Although calling them mamies has lost use in recent generations it is still the official name in Carmen Aboy Valldejuli's bookCocina Criolla[4] (the Puerto Rican "culinary bible").[5]
Although the first recipes appear in a Dominican cookbook, pasteles were first written about inaguinaldo Puertorriqueño in 1843 about Puerto Rican Christmas traditions.[citation needed]
Colombian pasteles are calledpastel de arroz[6] (rice pasteles) and are more of a tamale than a typical pastel. They are made fromrice that is seasoned and left out in the sun; a process referred to asorear (to air). The rice is then mixed with many ingredients.Pickled vegetables,chorizo,pork,chickpeas,olives, andpotatoes are the most common. Chicken and beef are also used. Colombian pasteles are wrapped twice, once with acabbage leaf, and again with a banana leaf. This is the typical meal of the Nochebuena Dinner (Christmas Eve), in the Caribbean Coast Region of Colombia[7] since their humble beginnings. It is often confused with the tamal from the Andean region, which is made up with corn.
In the Dominican Republic pasteles are a Christmas tradition, adopted from Puerto Rico. The masa typically made from green plantains, and two root vegetables or squash and one root vegetable, sour orange, annatto oil and sometimes milk. They are filled with ground chicken or ground beef sautéed with garlic, cubanelle pepper, red onion, cilantro, tomato sauce,sour orange juice, andlippia (Caribbean oregano) and sometimes raisins. Masa is placed on a banana leaf, filled with meat and tied individually. They are then boiled in salt water or frazon for later consumption.
A Dominican cookbook in 1938 is the first to print recipes for pasteles.[citation needed] The cookbook printed two recipes, titledpasteles Puertorriqueño andpasteles Dominicano. The only difference is the inclusion of cassava in the recipe for Dominican pasteles which currently is not included. Today Dominicans call pasteles,pasteles de hoja and differ in taste and texture from Puerto Rican pasteles.
Some data indicates that at the beginning of the 20th century pasteles made its way from Puerto Rico toSan Cristobal, Dominican Republic after theSan Ciriaco hurricane in 1899 that devastated Puerto Rico. Many Puerto Rican works fled to Hawaii and less known to Dominican Republic where pasteles became part of Hawaiian and Dominican culture among other Puerto Rican traditions. Puerto Rican pasteles still hold some popularity in the Dominican Republic.
The common name for this food inHawaii,pateles, is most likely borrowed fromCaribbean Spanish, which featuresweakening or loss of /s/ at the end of syllables: the pronunciation of pasteles as "pateles" occurs in Puerto Rican dialects, for instance. Over 5000Puerto Ricans migrated to Hawaii at the dawn of the 20th century to work in sugar plantations. The singular of pasteles,pastel (often pronouncedpatel), has been constructed throughback-formation. Other variations of this dish includepastele de olla y mistura or "pastele stew",[8]pastele de olla, andpastel al horno.[9]
Trinidadian pastelles are small meat-filled cornmeal pies stuffed with meat, fish or vegetables seasoned with fresh herbs and flavored with raisins, olives and capers wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf. They are traditionally prepared and eaten during the Christmas season. It is believed that they were introduced by Spanish colonizers who ruled between the late 15th and early 18th centuries.
They exist in some form or another throughout Latin America and are more commonly known in Venezuela as hallacas (pronouncedhayacas). The origins of pastelles are unclear.[citation needed] One view[whose?] is that Spanish colonists who settled in the region made them as a substitute for one of their favorite dishes, empanada gallega.[citation needed] Empanadas gallegas and pastelles both have heavily spiced meaty fillings, but pastelles are made with cornmeal while the empanada is more like a typical pastry as it is made with white flour. Another view[whose?] is that because the dish uses corn and is wrapped in banana leaves, it is a derivative of theMesoamericantamale.[10]
A sweet version is calledpaime and is also a Christmas dish. It contains no filling, but the dough itself contains ground coconut and raisins.[11]