Puerto Rican Pasteles

Stuffing:

• 2 pounds of diced pork
• 4 small sweet peppers
• 1 small onion
• 2 tablespoons recaito
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon adobo
• 1 tablespoon of oregano (dry flakes)
• 1 bay leaf

Masa Dough:

• 4 pounds yautia
• 6 green bananas
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• achiote oil

Wrapping:

• 40 banana leaves (cut approx. into 10 in X 5 in rectangles)
• 20 pieces of parchment paper (cut approx. into 8 in X 4 in rectangles)
• 20 pieces of kitchen string (cut into 18 in lengths)

Part 1- Making the Stuffing:

1.  brown the pork pieces in a pan
2. add the rest of the stuffing ingredients
3. cook until the pork is no longer pink inside
4. set aside and let cool

Part 2- Making the Masa Dough:

1. in a large bowl, peel and grate the yautia and the green bananas together
2. stir in the salt and eough achiote oil to moisten the dough and add a little color
3. you are now ready to assemble and wrap the pasteles

Part 3- Wrapping the Pasteles:

1. set the dough aside and prepare a work surface to assemble and wrap the pasteles
2. place the parchment paper flat on your surface and then place a cut banana leaf on the parchment paper
3. brush a few drops of achoite oil onto the center of the banana leaf
4. place about 1 and a half to 2 spoonfuls of the dough onto the middle of the banana leaf and mush it down evenly onto the banana leaf
5. place a spoonful of the meat onto the dough
6. place enough dough on top of the meat to cover it
7. place another banana leaf with achiote oil brushed onto it on top of the dough
8. bring the edges of the parchment paper together and fold down
9. fold in the ends of the parchment paper
10. take the string and fold in half, then put it underneath the pastele
11. take the two ends of the string facing you and fold them over the pastele
12. without crossing the strings, take the two ends and gently pull down, flip the pastele and bring the string around the ends of the pastele
13. tie in the middle
14. flip the pastele over one more time and tie the string into a bow

Part 4- Cooking the Pasteles:

1. bring a stock pot of salted water to a boil; there should be enough water to cover the pasteles
2. boil the pasteles for an hour
3. unwrap before serving

http://latinfood.about.com/od/puertorico/r/pasteles.htm

http://latinfood.about.com/od/pictoralhowtoarticles/ss/pasteles.htm

Stephanie Rivera April 15, 2009