How to Make Pastelles
The Holidays are a time to marry traditions across families and cultures. In my family, we enjoy French Canadian and Trinidadian dishes — tortiéres and pastelles. Both feature spiced meats, but my grandmother's pastelles are sweet and spicy, savoury pockets, similar to tamales, filled with ground beef, pimentos, raisins, capers and olives.
Ingredients makes 12 to 15 pastelles.
Filling
1 pound ground beef
2 yellow onions, minced
¼ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup raisins
1 cup chives, chopped
2 pimento peppers, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons stuffed olives, sliced
4 tablespoons capers
1 tbsp celery, chopped
1 seaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Dough
2 cups yellow cornmeal
½ cup butter, unsalted
¼ teaspoon salt
Preperation
Filling
In a medium bowl, combine ground beef, salt, black pepper and quarter-cup of chopped chives. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium-low. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add pimento peppers, chopped celery, remaining chives to the pan. Add the seasoned meat and cook until brown. Once the meat has been browned, add the tomato sauce, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add raisins, capers and sliced olives. Stir to combine. Cook for about five minutes or more. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add the fresh thyme and stir to combine. Remove from heat and cool.
Dough
In a food processor or by hand, combine cornmeal with butter and salt. Add water and process to make a soft, pliable dough. Divide dough into 12 balls. Cover with a damp cloth to prevent drying. Place one piece of dough on a greased fig (banana) leaf* OR a piece of foil and press into an eight-inch square.
Spoon two tablespoons of filling into the middle of the dough. Fold and seal pastelles. Wrap in fig (banana) leaf and tie into a neat. If you cannot source these leaves, you can simply the pastelle in foil. Steam pastelles for 45 minutes until cooked.
* You can typically source the fig/banana leaves from Asian or Caribbean grocers. If you are unable to find them, you can use foil as a substitute.
