Pastechi: Antillean pasties
Pastechi is perhaps the most famous snack from the Antilles. On Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao you can eat these filled pasties for breakfast or at a party. They are filled with cheese, minced meat, chicken or fish and then deep fried.
This recipe is for the pastechi with minced meat, also known as ' pastechi karni '. Would you like to try the other fillings as well? We have included them all for you in our super-thick cookbook!
Pastechi at a party or for breakfast?
On Curaçao, you can find pastechis at bakeries and snack bars. The ones you buy there are quite a bit bigger than the ones you get at a party. You'll find this version mainly in the morning, because it's a kind of 'breakfast to go' there . Very tasty, of course – just for a change!
Pastechis are also ideal as a snack or as a snack at a party. At a party, the pastechi are made a bit smaller, so that the guests can enjoy more snacks. Usually the pastechi at a party have a diameter of about 10 centimeters.
To fold the pastechi closed, you can use a special mold (as in the video below!). You can find this mold at bol.com (among other places).
Ingredients (20-25 pcs.)
for the filling
- 20 gr butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- a stalk of celery, finely chopped
- 1/2 Madame Jeanette pepper, finely chopped
- 500 grams (beef) minced meat
- 2 tablespoons of raisins
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- Soy sauce and black pepper to taste
for the dough
- 500 gr wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 bag / 16 gr baking powder
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 egg, jammed
- 200 ml water
Preparation:
We start by making the mincemeat filling for the pastechi. To do this, melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the chopped onion, bell pepper, celery and (optional) the Madame Jeanette pepper. Saute this together until the onion is translucent.
Then add the minced meat along with the raisins. Fry this together until the meat is cooked. Then add the ketchup, soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
Keep stirring the filling while baking until it is a homogeneous mixture. Then let the mincemeat filling cool while you continue making the pastechi dough.
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Making dough for pastechi
Place all ingredients — except the water — in a bowl and mix well. Then add the water little by little and knead into a smooth dough. Is the dough too sticky? Then you can add some extra flour. Is it just too dry? Then add some water!
If you knead with a food processor, 3 minutes is enough. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes.
Once you've kneaded the dough, let it rest under plastic wrap for 30 minutes. This makes it nice and soft and it will be easy to roll out later.
Then roll out the dough until it is about 3 millimeters thick. Then cut circles out of the dough. This will soon be the pastechi.
Fill each circle of dough with a tablespoon of the filling. Brush the edges of the circle with some water and fold the dough in half. Finally, press the edges of the pastechi karni well with a fork.
When you've filled all the pastechi, it's time to bake!
Preheat a deep-fat fryer or pan with oil to 170 degrees. Then fry the pastechi in the oil until golden. This will take about 5-7 minutes. Finally, let them cool on kitchen paper – Enjoy your meal!
Prefer a video?
In this video of the tuna patties you can see exactly how to make, fold and bake (the dough of) the pastechi:
Also try
Are you crazy about Antillean snacks? Then be sure to try our famous Johnny Cakes!
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