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The pastele, a traditional Puerto Rican food


AR3825

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Pasteles are one of the delicacies found in Puerto Rican homes. It is traditional food that is a treasure in a Puerto Rican food desert that is Oklahoma. I get them from my dad for Christmas. A pastele is basically a protein, some olives, and a few other ingredients that are stuffed inside a mix of plantains and yautìa, which is a corm or tuber type vegetable (?). There is also Adobo (seasoning) and sofrito (which I know is already compliant in of itself when it is homemade.) I also wonder if the seasoning Sazón is compliant. Thank you for your time.

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When you stuff the mixture inside the plantain mixture, is the plantain coating supposed to mimic bread?  Is it JUST mashed plantains and the other vegetable?  You said it's protein, olives 'and a few other ingredients'.  What are the other ingredients?

EDIT: I've just looked these up and made with compliant ingredients they would be fine.  Some recipes have garbanzo beans which would not be okay and some have milk which would also not be okay so you just need to make sure that you're using compliant ingredients.  As far as the masa goes, that's going to count as a starchy carb of which the recommendation would be a fist sized serving once a day to start so if you normally eat three or four of these in a sitting, that's probably a bit much.

For the seasonings, you would need to check the ingredients in them or post pictures here of the ingredient list.

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I don’t think the ones I have had are made with garbanzo beans and you are right more than 2 in a sitting is a bit much. The few other ingredients include mainly just the olives, sofrito, maybe some tomato sauce or paste, adobo (of which about 5 of the approved food sites had under the whole 30 approved section. Whew.), and sazon (still up in the air). There might be bell peppers of jalapeños peppers. Sorry I wasn’t more clear. I have to think a little hard because I have eaten plenty, but I have never made any. Making 100% compliant pasteles sounds like a fun adventure, but a big task. Pasteles are usually a family meal making affair because you make a bunch of them, put them in the freezer then boil them later. I’m a blasphemer because I eat mine with ketchup or hot sauce, but I like them with that. I’m also stoked about trying arroz coliflor sin gandules (cauliflower rice without the beans). We usually use ham as a replacement and it’s still good that way with the olives.

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This recipe looks like it would be whole30 compliant, if you need a starting point:  https://thecuriouscoconut.com/blog/how-to-make-puerto-rican-pasteles-paleo-aip -- this seems like it would make a ton, but it also seems like it would be easy to scale down if you don't want to make that big a batch the first time you try it.

Adobo, sazon, and sofrito are all things you could either make from scratch or buy. If you buy them, check the ingredients on the container you are buying, don't assume that because there are compliant ones available that they all are. I know I've seen adobo in the store that had something not compliant in it, and other versions that were fine for whole30.

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13 hours ago, AR3825 said:

 We usually use ham as a replacement and it’s still good that way with the olives.

Be wary of ham - it's easier to find now than it used to be but ham is very often cured with sugar so make sure you're reading your labels - often the sugar is listed as 'less than 2% of the following...'

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Was the non compliant ingredient tricalcium phosphate? I was actually about to check the forum for it since it is not on the pdf of additives. As far as the pork products go I think I’m going to go with a supported company from this site or talk to one of the local farmers. I didn’t realize how many people teach and then run a farm. I’m tired before the last bell rings. (Which is part of the reason I’m doing a whole 30.)

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26 minutes ago, AR3825 said:

I’m looking at the Goya brand I have. It should be compliant since the tricalcium phosphate is okay because the other ingredients are salt, granulated garlic, black pepper, and turmeric, right?

Yep!

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