Pasteles en Hoja [Video+Recipe] Dominican Plantain Pockets

Pasteles en Hoja (Plantain and Beef Pockets with hot sauce)

Pasteles en Hoja [Video+Recipe] Dominican Plantain Pockets

Pasteles en Hoja (Plantain and Beef Pockets) are an essential part of Dominicans Christmas and New Year's Eve dinner. Recipe with step by step photos makes your life so much easier.

Course Dinner, Party

Cuisine Caribbean, Dominican, Latino

Keyword Dominican pasteles, dominican tamales, pastel de hojas, Pasteles dominicanos, pasteles navideños

Prep Time 1 30

Cook Time 1

Total Time 2 30

Servings servings

Calories 136kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

Filling

Filling (see list above recipe)

For the batter

1 plantain (green, unripe) or 1½ medium plantain (½ lb [227 g] once peeled, see notes)
⅓ pound yautía (malanga) [151 g] peeled
⅓ pound auyama (kabocha squash) [151 g] peeled
1 tablespoon seasoning powder homemade Dominican sazon completo (or supermarket bought)
1 cup milk (whole or skim) [237 ml]
1½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon salted butter [28 g]
1 tablespoon bija (annato, achiote) powder

For wrapping

12 Banana tree leaves squares (see notes)
12 Leafs parchment paper (Amazon affiliate link - see notes)
Twine (the kind of string used for food)

For boiling

Salt

For garnishing

Ketchup (optional, see notes)
Hot sauce (optional, see notes)

Instructions

1. Making the batter

By hand: Grate the plantain, yautía, and auyama with the least coarse side of the grater. Once grated, combine all the ingredients for the batter and mix well.
Or with blender/food processor: Chop the plantain, yautía, and auyama, and combine them with the rest of the ingredients for the batter.
Pureé in a strong blender or a food processor until it's uniform, and you can't feel any clumps, but feels like grains of sand in it. It may take 5-10 minutes, depending on the blender/processor.

2. Wrapping pasteles

Put 2.5 tablespoons of the plantain and root mixture on one of the plantain squares. Put 2 tablespoons of filling in the center, cover with 2 more tablespoons of the root mixture to cover the filling.
Fold the leaf square in the shape of an envelope. Wrap again in parchment paper and tie tightly.
Repeat with the remaining batter.

3. Boiling pasteles en hoja

When all are wrapped, bring one gallon of water to boil in a large pot over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of salt.
When the water reaches a rolling boil, carefully lower the pasteles into the water.
Cover and cook for 40 minutes. The pasteles will float when put into the water, but as they cook, they'll start to puff and sink. Make sure to turn them a couple of times during the cooking time, so they cook uniformly on all sides.
Once the 40 minutes have passed, remove one from the liquid, unwrap, and check for doneness: the consistency of the batter will have changed throughout.

4. Serving

If it's ready, remove all from the water, otherwise boil for another 10 minutes.
Serve right after unwrapping, garnished with hot sauce and/or ketchup.

Video

Notes

Why do I ask you to weigh the plantain? Because not all plantains are created equal (see notes above the recipe).

Cut the plantain leaves into 5"x5" [13 x 13 cm] squares.

For wrapping, I prefer to use both plantain leaves and parchment paper [Amazon affiliate link], it is more waterproof that way, and the plantain leaves retain a nicer color. If you cannot find plantain leaves, then use parchment paper only. Just make sure to tighten the twine [Amazon affiliate link].

The nutritional info only includes the batter, not the filling. See the links above the recipe to pick a filling, and check the nutritional information in its recipe.

Nutrition