Pastel is the name given to different typical dishes of Hispanic or Portuguese origin countries.

There are two versions of Puerto Rican pasteles:

– Pasteles de masa, made with green plantains and yautia (taro root), and pork.

– Pasteles de yuca, where the masa is made with cassava, other root vegetables, and squash.

The recipe suggests using cassava instead of plantain for the traditional pasteles de masa.

The masa is enriched with broth, milk, butter, and annatto oil and is typically filled with shredded chicken and other ingredients.

Pasteles were originally made by the indigenous people of Boriquen (Puerto Rico).

The Tainos prepared the pastel only with masa made of cassava, yautía, and squash.

The masa was then filled with beans, fruit, chilies, corn, nuts, meat, fish, and wrapped in corn husks.

Puerto Rico has elevated the creation of pasteles to an art with hundreds of recipes and an annual festival: Festival Nacional del Pastel Puertorriqueño on the island.

In Puerto Rico, pasteles are a culinary delight, especially during the Christmas season.

The masa is typically made from grated green plantains (plantain), white yautía (taro), potatoes, and tropical squashes known as calabazas.

Seasoned with breadcrumbs and butter, almonds were added to the filling, and a chili was hidden at one end of each pastel.

Now the chili is mostly omitted and replaced with hot sauces like ajilimójili or pique or ketchup mixed with chili.

The meat was once prepared as a stew and still contains any combination of pork neck, ham, bacon, raisins, chickpeas, peppers, olives, and capers, and is commonly seasoned with bay leaves, recaito (a puree made from a mix of onions, garlic, sweet peppers, green peppers, and lots of cilantro), tomato sauce, adobo (a seasoning made of garlic, oregano, black pepper, and turmeric) and annatto oil.

But the filling can vary from vegetables, poultry, fish, sausages, and game meat.

To assemble a typical pastel, a large sheet of parchment paper, a strip of plantain or banana leaf heated over a flame to make it flexible, and some annatto oil on the leaf are necessary.

The masa is placed on the leaf and filled with the meat mixture.

The paper is then folded and tied with kitchen twine to form packets (some people use aluminum foil instead of parchment and twine).

Note: Parchment paper is used only if the pastel is boiled or steamed, not if grilled.

Once prepared, they can be cooked in boiling water, steamed, grilled (smoked or slowly grilled), and even frozen for later use.

For Puerto Ricans, Christmas isn’t Christmas unless there are pasteles de masa on the table!

They were the stars of the ViaggiandoMangiando on air on December 9, 2023, dedicated to plantain with: