Pork pastelle is perhaps the best tasting type of pastelle you can enjoy during the Christmas season. To some, including me, a Trini Christmas isn't a Trini Christmas without a few generous helpings of a pork pastelle or two.
A Special Pork Pastelle
So what's so special about pork pastelle? Well, for starters the meat is well seasoned with all our trini herbs fresh as can be then it is cooked in it's own seasoned juices with some roucou added for a bit of colour. All this wrapped up in a thin cornmeal blanket ( it has to be thin because we want to taste more pork than anything else :-D!) makes for a heavenly Trini treat that dear to many on the island.
In fact I believe,to me, this is the epitome of pastelle-dom and everything else is just trying to fill a wide gap. But, I don't mind the different varieties because once it's a pastelle, I'll be present with plate in hand waiting for a sample of one …..or two ….or even three if you feel generous during this season of giving lol!! 🙂
Anyhow I won't be long since this is already a looooong post so take your time and get all the necessary ingredients and have fun this Trini Christmas season Making some real pastelle… Pork pastelle.
Pork Pastelle Recipe
PORK PASTELLE
Ingredients:
Filling:
6 lb pork
8 pimento peppers
2 bundles fine leaf thyme
5 bundles chadon beni
2 bundles celery
4 bundles chive
2 head garlic
1 hot pepper
2 cups pork stock
6 tbsp roucou
Dough:
2 cups yellow cornmeal (very fine)
3 cups lukewarm water
4 tbsp. vegetable oil or coconut oil
¼ lb butter
1¼ tsp. salt
Wrapping:
2-3 large fig leaves (banana leaves)
strings to tie pastelles
Direction:
Mince the pimento, peppers, thyme, chadon beni, celery, chive, and garlic together.
Grind until fine.
Mix the cornmeal flour with warm water and the butter. Make a soft dough. Roll into smaller balls, about 3 inches in diameter.
Boil the pork in water until soft. Then finely mince the cooked pork. The pork is mince until fine.
Mix the seasoning and the meat. Mix well.
Stir fry the seasoned pork. Add the roucou liquid. Mix well. Add salt to taste. Remove and cool.
Press a ball onto a greased square cut of the leaf.
Spread about 2 tablespoon full of meat to the center of the flatten dough.
Fold the leaf and tie with a piece of string.
Place a deep large pan with enough water to boil.
When the water reaches its boiling point place the pastelle in and cook for about 40 minutes.
Pork Pastelle
Ingredients
- Filling:
- 6 lb pork
- 8 pimento peppers
- 2 bundles fine leaf thyme
- 5 bundles chadon beni
- 2 bundles celery
- 4 bundles chive
- 2 head garlic
- 1 hot pepper
- 2 cups pork stock
- 6 tbsp roucou
- Dough:
- 2 cups yellow cornmeal very fine
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- 4 tbsp. vegetable oil or coconut oil
- ¼ lb butter
- 1¼ tsp. salt
- Wrapping:
- 2-3 large fig leaves banana leaves
- strings to tie pastelles
Instructions
- Mince the pimento, peppers, thyme, chadon beni, celery, chive, and garlic together. Grind until fine.
- Mix the cornmeal flour with warm water and the butter. Make a soft dough. Roll into smaller balls, about 3 inches in diameter.
- Boil the pork in water until soft. Then finely mince the cooked pork. Mince pork. Mix the seasoning and the meat. Mix well, Stir fry the seasoned pork. Add the roucou liquid. Mix well.
- Add salt to taste. Remove and cool.
- Press a ball onto a greased square cut of the leaf. Spread about 2 tablespoon full of meat to the center of the flatten dough. Fold the leaf and tie with a piece of string.
- Place a deep large pan with enough water to boil. When the water reaches its boiling point place the pastelle in and cook for about 40 minutes.
So, I hope by now you either have some pastelle boiling in a large pot or you are just about to finish cutting off the string from a piping hot and totally Trinilicious Pork Pastelle.
As usual more recipes to come.
Ah gone!
100% agreed on the pork pastel, even if chadon beni didn’t star in our own show, as did two capers and raisins each, after the meat is spread onto the pressed out cornball.
And here, a fine but significant point: to prevent confusion, why not state in the recipe: ‘fig’ leaf (local misnomer for the banana leaf), etc. – as the fig leaf is not the banana leaf. Absent such a clarification, the many non-local visitors to the site will be confused, as indeed those recently recommended here have been pointing out.
Buen provecho!
I agree Gavino but I have made that distinction many times already on the site that when we say “fig leaf” in Trini. I am referring to banana leaf. Good point though 🙂
Nice! I’m doing this for the holiday!