Pastelitos Salvadoreños Recipes

PASTELITOS SALVADOREñOS

Steps:

• Rinse the chicken cutlets in cold water.
• In a deep saucepan, combine the chicken, water, bay leaf and salt and cook over high heat. Bring everything to a boil and reduce the heat to medium.
• Regularly skim the foam forming at the top.
• Cover the pot and cook for 1 hour.
• Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Remove the chicken from the pot and let it sit on a cutting board for 15 minutes.
• Discard the bay leaf and reserve 1 cup of the broth.
• Shred the chicken and set it aside.
• In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes and sauté for 1 minute.
• Then add the potatoes, carrots, chayote, green beans and broth.
• Mix well and bring to a rapid boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook all the vegetables for 10 minutes or until tender. Add the meat and pepper and mix. Season with salt.
• Remove from heat and let cool completely.
• Add the corn flour into the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Add all the other ingredients except the water.
• Mix at low speed, incorporating the water very gradually.
• Then, knead for 5 minutes until obtaining a soft dough.
• If necessary, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Divide the dough into 15 small, equal balls.
• With wet hands, press and tap each ball between the palms and flatten them into thin discs about 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter.
• Place these flattened discs of dough, spaced apart, on a sheet of parchment paper.
• In the center of each dough disc, place about ½ to 1 tablespoon of the stuffing, then fold the dough over the fillings into a crescent shape.
• Seal edges with fingertips or with a fork.
• In a deep pan, heat a generous amount of oil over medium heat to a temperature of 350 F (170°C).
• Fry the pastelitos until golden orange.
• Serve with curtido and tomato sauce.

PASTELITOS DE CARNE (CENTRAL AMERICAN MEAT PIES)

Steps:

• On medium high in a large pan, cook the ground beef and drain extra fat. To the cooked beef, add in the rice, cilantro and salt to taste. Cook for about 2 more minutes to heat thru. Set aside and let cool for about 7-10 minute.
• Meanwhile, In a large bowl, mix the masa harina, paprika, chicken bullion and pepper.
• Using a Pastry blender or fork, cut the lard into the masa mix until the masa is crumbly and the lard is pea size or smaller.
• Add the warm water, 1 cup at a time, to the masa and using your hands, mix well until the water is fully incorperated. The masa should not be sticky or dry. If it is sticky add a little bit more masa (1 tspn at a time) or if it is dry add water (1 tbspn at a time).
• Rub a little bit of cooking oil into your hands to make the following step easier. Take out about 2 table spoons of masa and roll into a ball. Using a tortilla press or a rolling pin, make the ball into the size of tortilla but be careful not to roll out to thin. The thickness has to be twice as thick as a tortilla or about the thickness of a pita bread. If it is too thin, the pies will not hold when you stuff them.
• Heat your deep fry oil on a large frying pan on medium high heat (almost high heat).
• Place rolled out dough on a flate surface and add about 2 tablespoons of the beef mixture in the middle. Close in half (creating the shape of a meat pie or half moon). Seal in edges with your fingers and creat small indintations with the end of a fork all around the edge of the pie.
• Before frying, test oil readiness by dropping a small piece dough into the oil. If it automatically sizzles and floats to the top, it is ready. Carefully slide in meat pies into the hot oil and cook about 3-4 minutes per side or until deep golden brown.
• Drain very well on paper towels. You can also slightly press a paper towel against the fried pies to remove excess oil. You can serve whole over a bed of shredded green cabbage or cut in half and serve Sarita's All purpose Tomato Sauce on the side.