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Sunday, December 07, 2008

taste of the tropics


I
ts tamale season and I am in the spirit, but not the regular tamale spirit I usually get in, I am feeling tropical and with this feeling comes pasteles. "What are pasteles?" You find yourself asking. Well pasteles are a Puerto Rican delight made out of mashed plantains, green bananas, yucca root and pulled pork all wrapped in a banana leaf and parchment and boiled till succulent. You might remember that I posted about these before - well this time I made my own, to eat and to share. I made up my own recipe after reading dozens and I feel quite confident that if anyones island grandmother tasted these she would be proud, seriously.



I am all up in the banana leaves, they are inexpensive, the package has a lot, (there is enough in one package to wrap a medium sized pig) and they add such a unique flavor to pork, I bet goat and lamb would benefit as well.




I rubbed and seasoned and seasoned and rubbed the pork until it sighed with delight. I cooked it in my outdoor pit for 14 hours until the meat fell off the bone (kidding, I pressure cooked it) Then the process commenced.





A little of the 'masa' or dough or paste or whatever you want to call it made from the bananas and the roots that I peeled and cut into smaller pieces and food processed with some of the cooking liquid from the meat until it was like cooked oatmeal, some green olives for a flavor packet a pinch of the meat then fold it up.







Fold it, wrap it, fold it and wrap it again with both banana leaves and parchment to really lock in the flavor then tie it off with a string.(some people use only parchment and that is fine but it will be lacking the green banana leaf flavor, and on the same note you can omit the parchment but I have found that the banana leaf gets drowned and it looses some of its green - this way it gets all held together nicely)



Several weeks later you have made a few.



Boil them in salty water in a big pot for at least an hour.





While they are still way too hot to eat, put one on a plate and burn your fingers trying to unwrap it, after it is unwrapped drizzle some louisiana hot sauce on it and plunge your fork into it and then straight to your mouth while it is still molten and you burn your lips, your tongue and the roof of your mouth because you are too impatient to wait a few more minutes. They firm up as they cool and they re-heat in the microwave or a quick steaming and keep their firmer look, these were oozing hot and I simply could not wait!

26 comments:

snugs said...

impressive you dog!

Chef E said...

Man does that look better than what I had to eat last night...I will spare you...I am going to have to get my banana leaves and plaintain on to keep up with you!

Christo Gonzales said...

snugs: thanks there dawlin'

chef e: let me go ahead an get a little bit texan on you too.. dawlin'

Darius T. Williams said...

Wow - now this is some good Puerto Rican cookin...really!

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

Ken said...

ARE you sh#ting ME?????

Do you really pull this kind of exotic food out of your everyday feed the family hat?

My mouth waters, imagining what that tastes like, while sitting against a fallen palm tree on the south beach shore of a tropical paradise.

tavolini said...

you even tied them like tamales!!!

I bet those taste fantastic--I LOVE plantains :)

Just telling it like it is said...

Nice presentation but I am not sold on the idea of pork and bananas...
B-A-N-A-N-A-S..sorry I got caught up in a song there..:0)

Christo Gonzales said...

darius t: thanks buddy that means a lot...

micky t: sad to say bu tits rue...

tavolini: I guess I was learned right!

just telling: these are not sweet...

Anonymous said...

So long as it can be dropped in a bowl and drowned in red chile it's worth a taste, but it's hard to walk away from the virgin--I mean, version we do in ABQ.

Phfrankie Bondo said...

...have you experienced the Salvadoran variety with chick-pea masa?.....

Christo Gonzales said...

ap: I guess you could do that - it would have a flavor clash - walking away from a virgin is never easy...I mean version

Phfrankie Bondo: no I havent - I bet its a tasty one...

buffalodick said...

That was a lot of work! At least you were rewarded!

Angel said...

oh dog....you know what I'm gonna say, right? you know me well, by now....what the HELL is that brown turd thing laying in the top picture???!!! ;)

ya, think I'll pass on this one dog...bring back the crepes.

pinknest said...

wow, i am blown away you have made so many tamales! i LOVE tamales. love them. but after that one tamale class i took i vowed i'd never make them because i'd take FOREVER!! if you're having a tamale party, please invite me. i'm much better at snarfling them than making them.

Christo Gonzales said...

buff: it was a little bit of an effort but well worth it-the reheat factor is big on this one

beth: such a little fuss bucket - that 'turd' is a yucca root similar to a potato - google it

pinknest: these are pasteles - a lot like tamales and they probably require more prep time but oh is it worth it!

The Blonde Duck said...

That's really neat! I like it!

Tanya Kristine said...

holy shit. that looks amazing! too bad you weren't in sac becuase we could have a dinner party and you could host it.

Anndi said...

I've never had that... and now I want some.

Christo Gonzales said...

tbd: thanks -

TK: yeah too bad..It would be fun...seriously

anndi: they are one of my favorites

Anette said...

I am with Anndi, never had it, want it!

Marjie said...

Well, you know I like bananas. I didn't believe you put them in your BBQ pit - sorry!

Pravs said...

Thats some good food there... wrapped and cooked in banana leaves does give a unique flavor.

Anonymous said...

COOL, now I know what to do with all my banana leaves!

Denise
http://WineFoodPairing.blogspot.com

LaDivaCucina said...

I hope you set up a production line! I didn't know you needed the parchment, thought just the banana leaves would suffice?

Jealous of outdoor pit. And nobody stole your meat in 14 hours as well! haha! Merry Merry, doggybloggy, well done. Now ship some down this way (Must. Find. Pasteles. In. Miami!!)

Norma said...

I am so excited about your pasteles. I used to make them with my mom and it is labor intensive. We would get a bunch of women together and make about 200 or more in one day and split between the family.

This is a wonderful presentation an I wish I could taste one.

Trying to get a bunch of New York bloggers together..interested? If so, e-mail me and if you know of other NYCB's send me their names so that I can subscribe to their posts.
Gracias!
Norma
platanosmangoes@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

These are pasteles and the bananas and plantains are green not sweet. The brown root is called yuca or cassava. Because they are boiled, they need the parchment paper to keep it together. The banana leaf alone would fall apart and the water would seep in and ruin it in the boiling process. The parchment paper keeps it from getting ruined. You need to use both the banana leaves and the parchment paper together. Puerto Rican talking here.

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