Halal Pasteles With Arroz Gandoules

Here is another two part dish this one is  a Puerto Rican dish that is eaten around the  holidays.  I am going to give you the seasoning called sofrito for this recipe too because it is the main seasoning along with adobo and sazon that gives it the Latin flavor of these dishes. So I am going to say oops it is a 3 part recipe all on the same post of this blog. If you want  the sofrito recipe only  just refer to this page.  I used Goya  sazon and adobo.

Equipment: a food processor to make the masa faster, if  I used a knuckle shredder I  would be spending hours finely grating everything, a pot for boiling the pasteles , pasteles paper  with string  or aluminum foil plus banana leaves for wrapping the pasteles, a skillet for making picadillio, method I explain later, another pan for making achiote oil  and a pan for making sofrito, a pressure cooker for making the chickpeas, gandoulez and another pot for making  the arroz gandoulez, 1 potato peeler and a huge mixing bowl for the masa, knife and cutting board for prep work, mortar and pestle for grinding spices.

Oh by the way, I don’t want to ignore anyone because I know some vegetarians  and vegans  may be reading my post.  I am putting it here in my blog that there is an alternative called veggie crumbles  it is made by morning star farm and boca.  You can buy it at any grocery store that sells these products.  Use this to make your picallio instead of  the ground beef, lamb, goat, veal, chicken or turkey and follow the rest of the instructions on how to make picallio  just cut down on the salt though because it can get too salty. So for any vegetarians  and vegans out there I want to apologize for not putting it in this  blog post earlier. Another vegan option is just skip the soy protein like veggie crumbles in case of soy allergies. The beans and rice  only arroz gandules is also just as tasty.

Sofrito Ingredients: 1/4 cup of olive oil,  1 onion, 2  cloves of garlic. 2 pinches of achiote seeds,  1 green chili either jalepeno or sarrano, 2 pinches of cilantro, 2 pinches of culantro. Alternatively you can add either 1 cubano, green bell pepper only or pablano only if you have small kids eating with you or anyone who doesn’t like spicy food.

Sofritio method: Heat olive oil in the pan add the achiote. Stir until the seeds darken, when they turn black and the oil is a deep orange color remove them with a  skimmer to strain the oil off of these seeds and put it on paper towel , these get discarded asap.  Add onion, garlic, green chili, culantro and cilantro.

Now make just achiote oil  just like you did for sofritio by adding olive oil and adding 2 pinches of achiote seeds. When they darken remove them and set the achoite oil aside.  you will need this  for the pasteles.

Pasteles :   ingredients for masa : 1/3 cup of achiote oil divided, 3 yutia, 1 fresh yucca or 1 Ziploc baggie of frozen yucca. I used frozen because it was more convenient , 1 white yam, 1 potato, 3 green bananas,1 green plantain, 1 small pumpkin or 1 small piece of pumpkin, chickpeas, water for cooking.

Ingredients for picallio: 1 lb or 1 kilo of either ground chicken, beef, turkey or veal. Spanish olives with the peminto inside, capers, tomato, raisons (optional), sofrito, adobo, a pinch of oregano, a pinch of cumin

a pinch of crushed black pepper,  1/2 packet of sazon by Goya, this is the filling that goes inside the pasteles.

Method for masa: I got my food processor and went to work I got everything I needed the day before I made these pasteles and make sure your bananas and plantain are green not ready to turn yellow.

I cut everything in to tiny bits so it is easier for my food processor’s motor.

Score peal and cut your green bananas and green plantain, cut in tiny pieces with a knife then grind it in the food processor then empty it in to a bowl you do not want the bowl of the processor to get too full. Peal and cut the pumpkin, yutia, white yam, yucca, (if you are using frozen like I did skip this step just grind it in the processor and empty it in to the bowl) and then potato.  Mix the masa together and add some of your achiote oil. this gives the pastele a nice pretty orange color. Be sure to save some for putting it on the banana leaves.

Method for picallio: Add olive oil, chop the tomato very finely and cook it till you don’t see anything of it left that all you see is pulp, this can be done on low heat and adding a little bit of water at a time so it doesn’t scorch, and cover with a lid and keep stirring frequently,  brown the meat, ( I used ground turkey because of thanksgiving), add sofrito, Spanish olives, capers, the optional raisons, 1/2 packet of Goya sazon , 3 dashes of Goya adobo, a pinch each of cumin and black pepper crushed with mortar and pestle.  Stir until everything is well combined and cooked.

Pasteles assembly and cooking:  I knew someone  who made enough pasteles to feed the whole entire neighborhood.  I am serious and she was telling me before she went back to  Puerto Rico how to make these things.

I use foil and banana leaf to wrap these things it is easy for me. The store had pasteles paper and string this  year but  I got extra aluminum foil in case I ran out.  Fill up a pot of water and set on the stove to boil. Now here comes the fun part. Cut pieces of  foil and banana leaf  and lay the foil or pasteles paper flat if using paper, if using foil like I did there is no need to tie these things.  I  laid the foil on the tray it is very huge surface to work on and it kept my table and counter clean.  I wash banana leaf sheets  that I cut as I go then laid it down on top of  foil, the remaining achiote oil is used on top of banana leaf smear a thin coat then lay the masa with a huge spoon on top of the banana leaf, place chick peas on top. I cooked these chickpeas just before the gandules also in a pressure cooker, then add the picallio and wrap the pasteles like you are wrapping a present by making sure you  double fold on the top and the sides.  I folded a  tiny piece first after making sure edges are even, if you are using pasteles paper instead of foil the same rule applies. After I  folded the first tiny piece then I folded it once more on the top, next you have what looks like a rectangle. It is supposed to look like this and double fold  like you did on the top part on the sides of the pasteles if using paper use the  string to  tie it. Please look at youtube videos  on how to do this  this is how I learned how to wrap these delicious packages of something that is so yummy. I hope the video will help you. If you have room in your freezer, at this point they can be frozen by putting two pasteles inside of a ziplock baggie and putting it in the freezer until you  want to boil them and eat them.  When you are ready to eat them boil in boiling water for an hour and enjoy with arroz gandoules.

Arroz gandoules ingredients: rice, either short brown rice, long brown rice, brown basmati rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, sofrito, a can of halal lunch meat or for vegetarian option meatless, gandoules I cooked in a pressure cooker a head of time, adobo,1/2 remaining  sazon, cumin, oregano, black pepper, olive oil, water, olives, capers caper and olive juice. If you don’t want to use picallio  then it is ok to use halal hotdogs that are chicken, beef or turkey. Also you can use a can of halal lunch meat. The choice is yours.

arroz gandoules method: Rice of choice, (I used jasmine rice this time).  I washed the rice  several times in water to get rid of the starch. I chopped up the halal lunch meat in to cubes, added sofrito, 1/2 remaining packet of sazon, adobo, I stirred to mix everything, added Spanish olives and capers along with a little of its juice, cumin oregano and black pepper. I mixed again, added cubed halal lunch meat and gandoules with its water and enough water to cover the beans and the rice, brought it to a rapid boil then covered it and turned it on low for 20 minutes or until there is no more water and the rice and beans are soft. I turned off the gas and let it sit  for 15 minutes. This is what Indians and Pakistanis call this method is putting it on a dum and this is the best way to cook rice.