Ingredients for making "pastel" dough
4 pounds taro root 2 sets of green banana (1 set = 10-12 bananas) 1 green plantain 1 can of Chicken Broth (14 ½ ounces) 1 tbsp of annatto seeds 1 cup of oil 1 package of "Sazón" (¼ tsp) (salt, garlic, cumin, coriander, annatto) 1 tbsp "Sofrito" (green pepper, onion, cilantro, garlic, recao, sweet pepper) Salt to taste Procedure: - Pour oil into frying pan and place annatto seeds in pan. Cook at medium heat. Stir occasionally and remove pan from heat when the oil starts to bubble or turns red. - Peel green bananas, plantain and tarro roots. Put them inside a bowl with salt and water. - Using the grater side with the smallest openings, grate the bananas, taro roots, and plantain. Leave the plantain for last. - Place the grated mix on large bowl andd stir the mixture until well blended. - Add to the mix the following ingredients: "sofrito", "sazon", and chicken broth. Remove the annatto seeds from the oil and add oil to the mix. - Mix all ingredients with a spoon untill well blended. - Taste the mix to ensure it has enough salt. If not, add more salt to taste.
Ingredients for cooking the chicken
12 boneless skinless breasts 1 tbsp of "Adobo" (salt, cumin, garlic, black pepper, turmeric) 1 tbsp "Sofrito" (green pepper, onion, cilantro, garlic, recao, sweet peppers) 1 package of "Sazón" (¼ tsp) (salt, garlic, cumin, coriander, annatto) 2 cups of water Procedure: - Cut chicken into small pieces. - Place chicken and remaining ingredientts on a pot. Cook at medium heat. - When the meat is cooked, change temperrature to low heat.
Ingredients for making one (1) pastel
1 piece of enparchment paper cut in rectangular shape (approximately 12" x 14") Banana leaf 1 piece of fine thread (36" long) 1 tsp of cooked chicken juice 1 large spoon of the "pastel" dough 1 tsp raisins (you will need a large box for all the "pasteles") 2-3 olives (you will need 1 big jar) 2-3 chickpeas (you will need 2 cans of chickpeas) 2-3 small pieces of pimentos (you will need a medium size jar) Procedure: - Place enparchment paper on flat surface. Place banana leaf on top of paper and try to cover most of the paper. - Using a metal spoon, pour chicken juice on middle of banana leaf and spread to the sides covering an area of 3" wide by 5" long. - Place "pastel" dough on top of banana leaf and spread to cover the area specified above. - Place the remaining ingredients in the following order: chicken, raisins, olives, chickpeas and pimentos. - Fold paper by the side with the largest length to mix all the ingredients. - Fold the remaining sides towards the inside to form a rectangle. - Tight "pastel" with thread in such a way that all four sides of the "pastel are covered so the mix won't come out. See picture below. - Repeat above steps for the remaining "pasteles". - Place enough "pasteles" inside large pot with water. Cook "pasteles" at medium heat for 1 hour. (Water should cover the "pasteles")
Ingredients for Green Banana Cakes (Pasteles):
WITH MEAT.......
Recipe for 5 people, 2 green banana cakes per person.
1. You will need 2 to 3 green bananas (depending on the size of the green bananas) for each Green Banana Cake. For 10 Green Banana Cakes you will need 20 to 30 green bananas.
2. A small pork's thigh, or 1 lb. of pork's thigh meat with out fat and grease.
3. Two large diced potatoes (one inch square pieces).
4. Olive oil, 1/2 a cup.
5. Coriander and Annatto (Sasón) seasoning 3 packets.
6. Adobo with black pepper, one teaspoon. (see the "Rice with Pigeon Peas" recipe below to see what Adobo and Sofrito are).
7. Sofrito, 2 large table spoons.
8. Sasón Accent seasoning, one packet.
9. Half of a teaspoon of salt.
10. Green Banana leaves, cooking paper and cooking or kite string.
11. Stuffed Olives. 12. 1/2 a can of Tomato Sauce.
First put on some rubber gloves, peeling green bananas will stain the hands and anything else it touches.
Making the Green Banana Pulp Mass.
1. Carefully peel the raw green bananas using a small knife, cut off the end points of the bananas and cut the banana peel down the middle to open the banana peel and using the small knife peel the banana peel off (avoid stains they don't come out) throw away the peelings and use the inner banana and grate them or blend them in a blender into a very fine pulp mass.
Make a mixture of 1 teaspoon of salt, then mix 2 packets of Coriander and Annatto (Culantro y Achiote) seasoning, then mix this into 1/3 of a cup of olive oil in the blender, blend well and take this mixture and mix it well into the green banana pulp mass in your blender or by hand.
Making the stew filling.
1. First take the pork and remove all the fat and grease, until you have one pound of cleaned pork meat. Cut the meat into 1 inch piece. Place the cleaned pork meat into a pressure cooker and boil the meat in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes to tender the meat.
2. After the pork meat is cooked (tenderize) in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes, open it and add 2 peeled diced (one inch square) potatoes, boil the potatoes in the open pressure cooker with the meat until the potatoes are cooked.
3. Next take 2 large table spoons of olive oil and place it into a large frying pan. Heat the olive oil and add 2 large spoons of Sofrito, the Adobo with black pepper, the Sasón seasoning and stir fry the mix. After stir frying the mix, add one half of a can of Tomato Sauce to the mix, mix in the cooked potatoes, then add 10 stuffed olives and add the cooked tenderized pork meat. Cook and stir over a low flame until it boils.
Making the Green Banana Cakes.
Finding green banana leaves might be hard for some of you people, if you can not find the green banana leaves just use cooking paper for wrapping the cakes. But the banana leaves do give the Pasteles a special taste, so try and get them by all means.
Cut a 7"x7" inch piece of banana leaf and spread it out on a large (over one foot square) piece of cooking paper. Take one spoon of the gravy of the stew and spread it on the banana leaf. Then take 3 large table spoons of the mixed green banana mass and spread it out evenly over the green banana leave only.
In the center of the spread out mixed green banana mass, place one heaping table spoon of the stew in the middle, this table spoon should have even parts of meat and potatoes with 2 stuffed olives for each cake.
Then carefully double the outer paper with all the ingredients in the middle to form the green banana cake to the size of the green banana leaf with the stew inside the green banana pulp mass. Then fold over all the over lapping paper to make a small package. Then tie it up with cooking string or kite string into a neat little package about 3 inches wide and 7 inches long.
Make as many cakes as you can with your ingredients until you run out of ingredients.
You may now either freeze the green banana cakes for future use, or you may boil them for eating right away.
Cooking the Green Banana Cakes.
First if the Green Banana Cakes are frozen let them thaw out then take a large pot and fill it half way with water, bring the water to a boil and place the wrapped Green Banana Cakes into the boiling water, let them boil for about 40 minutes. Serve 2 Green Banana Cakes with cooked white rice per person with stewed red beans if you like, but it can be eaten with rice alone with a nice salad on the side. And if you like Louisiana Hot Sauce, give the hot Green Banana Cake a even coating of Louisiana Hot Sauce to spice it up a little. Hmmmm! Delicious!
Pasteles
(pa-ste-les)
(makes 36)
Filling:
A-2 pounds lean pork meat, without bone
6 tablespoons jugo de naranja agria (sour orange juice)
B-Crush and mix in a mortar:
4 sweet chili peppers, seeded
4 fresh culantro leaves
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons whole dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
C-Cube finely:
1 pound lean cured ham
1 green pepper, seeded
1 onion peeled
D-1 1/2 cups seeded raisins
E-1 can (1 pound) garbanzos (Chick-peas), liquid included
1 cup water
F-24 olives, stuffed with pimientos, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons capers
6 tablespoons Achiote Coloring (cook anais seed in 1 cup vegetable oil)
Wash and dry pork meat rapidly and cut into very small cubes. Mix meat cubes
with the sour orange juice.Add ingredients included in B to meat.Add ingredients
included in C and the seeded raisins. Mix together well.In a saucepan, bring to
boil ingredients included in E. Drain the liquid over the meat mixture. Remove
skins from chick-peas and add chick-peas to the meat mixture.Add olives and
capers.Add ingredients included in F, mix well, cover, and set in regrigerator
until the masa is ready.
Masa (Paste)
A-4 pounds white yautia, peeled
4 pounds yellow yautia, peeled
15 green bananas, peeled and rinsed in salted water
2 cups lukewarm milk
B-1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) Achiote Coloring
2 1/2 tablespoons salt
Wash, drain and grate the yautias and bananas. Crush gradually in a mortar
yautias and bananas. Mix in a bowl with lukewarm milk to make a smooth paste.
(If using an electric blender, crush gradually yautias and bananas with lukewarm
milk. Set in a bowl.)Add the Achiote Coloring and salt, mix well, cover, and set
aside to make the pasteles.
To Shape and Cook the Pasteles
Use 20 bundles of plaintain leaves. They should be long and wide.With a knife,
remove the central ridge to give greater flexibility to the leaves. Divide
leaves into pieces, about 12 inches square. Wash and cleen leaves with a damp
cloth.Place 3 tablespoons of the masa on a leaf and spread it out so thinly,
that it is almost transparent. Place 3 tablespoons of the filling in the center
of the masa.Fold the leaf one half over the other to make a top and bottom layer
of plaintain leaf and enclose the contents in it. Fold it over once more.Fold
the right and left ends of the leaf toward the center.Wrap in a second leaf
placed on the diagonal.Tie the pasteles together, in pairs, with a string,
placing folded edges facing each other.In a large vessel, bring to a boil 5
quarts water with 3 1/2 tablespoons salt. Add 12 pasteles and boil, covered, for
1 hour. Halfway, turn over pasteles. When cooking period is finished, remove
pasteles from the water at once. Repeat process with rest of pasteles.
Note: Parchment cooking paper may be used in place of
plaintain leaves.
