Name: Karen Felician’s Pastelles
Yield: Makes 24
Ingredients: Kitchen twine; ½ teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce; 3 tablespoons capers; ½ cup raisins; Banana leaves* or heavy-duty plastic wrap, cut into 24 8-inch squares; 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 pounds ground beef; 2 tablespoons Paramin green seasoning; ½ Scotch bonnet pepper or other hot red chili pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped; ½ pimiento pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon paprika; 2 teaspoons coarse salt; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons canola oil; ¼ cup canola oil, plus more as needed; 3 cups hot water; 2 cups masa harina

Preparation info

Makes
24

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Sweet Hands

By Ramin Ganeshram

Published 2018

About

Karen Felician of Maraval serves these traditional pastelles on Christmas Eve. She uses homemade green seasoning made from the local herbs that have made the Paramin region famous and from which her husband, Carlos, hails.

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups masa harina
3 cups hot water
¼ cup

Method

Make Dough

1 Combine the masa harina, hot water, and oil. Mix until the dough comes together in a ball.

Make Filling

2 Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the onion. Cook until translucent, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the ground beef, mix well, and brown using a fork to break