Pasteles
pasteles en hoja
Leaf-wrapped holiday parcels made with plantain, root vegetables, cornmeal, or masa and filled with seasoned meat or vegetables.
About this dish
Puerto Rican pasteles are closely associated with holiday and family cooking. Grated green bananas and root vegetables form the masa around seasoned filling, and the leaf-and-paper wrapping makes preparation a shared, hands-on task.
Recipe
Puerto Rican pork pasteles
Masa
- 800 g peeled green bananas
- 400 g peeled yautía
- 300 g peeled calabaza squash
- 150 g peeled green plantain
- 3 tbsp annatto oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 garlic cloves
Filling
- 500 g pork shoulder, in 1 cm cubes
- 2 tbsp annatto oil
- 3 tbsp prepared sofrito
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 250 ml water
- 100 g cooked chickpeas
- 50 g pitted green olives, halved
- 12 roasted-red-pepper strips
- 12 banana-leaf rectangles (25 x 20 cm)
- 12 parchment sheets (30 x 40 cm)
- food-safe twine
- 1
Filling: 500 g pork shoulder, in 1 cm cubes; 2 tbsp annatto oil; 3 tbsp prepared sofrito; plus the remaining ingredients listed for this component. Cook sofrito and tomato paste in filling oil 2 minutes. Add pork, garlic, oregano, filling salt and water; simmer 45-60 minutes until tender. Stir in chickpeas and olives and cool. Use moderate heat for sofrito and scrape paste so it does not burn. Simmer pork quietly until easily shredded, then cool promptly.
- 2
Masa: 800 g peeled green bananas; 400 g peeled yautía; 300 g peeled calabaza squash; plus the remaining ingredients listed for this component. Process masa vegetables and garlic very finely in batches; mix with masa oil and salt into a thick raw paste. Process small batches and scrape the bowl so no hard vegetable chunks remain; paste should be thick, not watery.
- 3
Set a banana leaf on parchment. Spread an equal portion of masa into a rectangle, add filling and a pepper strip, then fold leaf and paper into a closed flat parcel. Tie securely. Wash and soften leaves until flexible, pat dry and keep masa and filling off sealing edges. Fold both leaf and paper ends securely and tie in two directions.
- 4
Boil gently 60-75 minutes until the masa is cooked throughout. Rest 10 minutes, remove wrapping and serve. Use a roomy pot and quiet boil; check water level and open one parcel for uniformly cooked tender masa. Drain before resting and unwrap carefully.
Note
Green banana-yautía masa is not corn masa. Do not taste raw yautía; cook fully. Pasteles are labor-intensive and vary by family.