Pastelitos

Ingredients

• Masa harina500 g
• Warm water400 ml
• Minced beef400 g
• Potatoes300 g
• Onion1
• Annatto1 tsp
• Cabbage300 g
• Vinegar50 ml
• Tomato sauce200 ml
• Oil for frying700 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Fry the mince with the onion and annatto, add the finely diced potato and stew until soft.

   25 min

2. 2

   Season the filling and cool it completely.

   25 min

3. 3

   Shred the cabbage finely and pickle it in vinegar with salt for half an hour.

   12 min

4. 4

   Mix the masa with warm water and salt to a pliable dough that does not stick to your hands.

   10 min

5. 5

   Press a ball of dough between two sheets of film into a thin round.

   15 min

6. 6

   Put a spoon of filling on one half, fold it over and seal the edge with a fork.

   18 min

7. 7

   Deep-fry at 180 °C for three minutes a side and serve with the cabbage and sauce.

   25 min

About the dish

The dough is made from masa harina — nixtamalised corn flour, not ordinary cornmeal. Ordinary meal will not bind and crumbles in the fryer.

The filling is cooled completely. Hot, it softens the masa from within and the turnover opens along its seam in the oil.

Cabbage salad and sauce on top are obligatory. A dry pastelito is not served in Honduras — the curtido is part of the dish rather than a side.

Worth knowing

• — Keep the dough under a damp cloth. Masa dries within minutes, and dried dough cracks as it folds.
• — Check the seam with a finger before frying. The smallest gap lets the filling into the oil and it foams over the rim.
• — Fry three or four at a time. More and the oil temperature drops, and the turnovers soak up fat instead of setting.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

520 kcal

Protein

20 g

Fat

26 g

Carbs

52 g

More from Honduras

• Baleadas — A wheat flour tortilla folded over refried beans, soured cream and crumbled cheese.
• Conch soup — Conch soup in coconut milk with cassava and plantain. The Garifuna cooking of the Caribbean coast.
• Montucas — Fresh-corn tamales with chicken, steamed in corn husks.