Pastelles - a family affair

Pastelles - cornmeal patties stuffed with meat and steamed in banana leaves - are seasonal as sorrel. They signify the season as much as ponche  a crema; and are festive and "family affairs." It is possible to order and purchase the pastelles that you will serve on Christmas day, but making them remains a communal activity. Here is an account of what has become a family tradition. We use a basic recipe that starts with the refined cornmeal, Promasa. "Authentic" pastelles start with the corn that is ground and processed. With a team of three or four helpers, it is possible to have fun while making enough pastelles to serve through the twelve days of Christmas.

Cook meat filling:
Minced pork, two pounds
Minced beef, two pounds
Minced chicken (optional) one pound instead of one pound of beef
Salt, two teaspoons or to taste
Ginger, thumb-sized piece chopped fine
Garlic, 5-6 cloves chopped fine
Thyme, French, fine leaves removed from stem
Seasoning peppers, 5 or 6 chopped fine
Hot pepper, half chopped fine
Capers, small bottle
Olives, pitted, two cans drained and olives cut in quarters or smaller
Currants or raisins, half pound or two cups
Oil, 3-4 tablespoons
Angostura bitters, 5-8 dashes
Soy sauce, two or three tablespoons

Heat oil and add ginger, garlic, peppers. When the seasonings are sizzling (after 5-8 minutes) add pork and cook, stirring. Add beef when the pork is no longer pink. Add chicken after the other meats. Add salt, bitters and soy sauce. Cook over medium heat. Drain capers and add. Add olives, thyme. Add raisins. Cover and simmer, allowing flavours to mingle. Taste and adjust salt - if it is on the salty side, don't add salt to the cornmeal paste.

The meat is seasoned with sweet (raisins), sour (capers and olives), peppers and salt flavours

Make the cornmeal paste:
Promasa, 3 pounds approximately (to substitute, choose finely ground cornmeal or polenta)
Water, one cup to each cup promasa plus a little more to moisten the paste as it is flattened

Mix four or five cups of cornmeal at a time with the equivalent lukewarm water. Use your hands to knead the paste and press out lumps. Add a little water at a time, as needed to make the dough soft and workable. It shouldn't crack or be grainy - if it is dry, it will be difficult to flatten. After you have kneaded the dough, shape into small balls - the size of a table tennis ball or an egg.

Shaping balls the size of large eggs

Prepare the banana leaves:
Cut banana leaves that are not yet fraying - these should be soft and pliable. Cut six or eight leaves. Then run the blade along each side of the mid-rib, to collect the two sides of each leaf. Roll the pieces into a bundle - don't fold or the leaves may break - and put into a pot of boiling water. Boiling, singeing over an open flame, or freezing the leaves will soften them so that they may be folded without breaking.  Turn the bundle of leaves over once so the whole leaf is steamed. Cool and wipe the leaves, then cut into squares or oblongs (approximately eight inches on each side) large enough to wrap the packages.

Select perfect leaves, cut each leaf off each side of the main rib

Boiling the leaves

On a piece of leaf - smoother side up - rub a little oil, then flatten a cornmeal ball into a circle. Put a couple tablespoons of meat mixture down the middle, then fold the two sides of the cornmeal together and fold the banana leaf with a double fold, and tuck in the sides. Place packages in a large pot. When the pot is full of packages, pour boiling water halfway up, cover and bring to the boil. Steam for 20 minutes, turn off heat and allow to cool.

Mona (left) flattens the cornmeal on the leaf; Anaelle folds her package

 Put meat in the middle of the dough; fold sides up to cover

Nathalie puts meat on the cornmeal; Indra folds her pastelle

Storing and serving pastelles
Pastelles may be packed in ziploc bags and frozen until needed. To serve, warm up by steaming on the stove or in the microwave. Serve with slices of baked ham, with chow chow and pepper sauce on the side. Great with ponche a crema for Christmas morning brunch.

Open the pastelle just before serving - leaves may be re-used