So… what is a pastelito? I deliberately left the pastelito word on the English part of the title of this recipe same as in Spanish. Pastelitos, to me, do not have a real translation in English, much like Arepas or Empanadas. However, I can give you a few examples of other food items across the world that are SIMILAR to pastelitos, but definitely not the same. The key differences being the filling and the ingredients for the dough.
Some examples that could be similar to pastelitos are Greek Bougatsas; Aloo Pies in Trinidad and Tobago; Bridies and Cornish Pasty in the United Kingdom; Curry puffs in Southeast Asia; Knish in Eastern Europe; an Öçpoçmaq in Russia; Panzarottis in Italy; Paste in Mexico; Pastel in Brazil; Maltese Pastizzis; Pâté Chauds in Vietnam; Pithiviers in France; Samosas in the Indian subcontinent; turnovers, hot pockets, or a very small portable pot pie here in the US.
Pastelitos are definitely a staple of my childhood in Venezuela. The recipe for pastelitos is a bit more complex than empanadas, so they are not usually cooked at home… unless you’re lucky enough to have an avid baker in the house.
One of those times I would enjoy pastelitos would be in school. As I mentioned in other posts, my mom was a super-mom who would serve homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Consequently, I rarely took any big meals to school in my lunchbox. Mostly I took beverages and healthy snacks, plus a few chucherías now and then. When I was older and I would receive cash gifts or money for completing chores, I would purchase snacks in the school’s Cantina. I attended three different schools in Venezuela, and I can still remember all three different cantinas in each one.
La cantina escolar, was the school’s cafeteria. However, unlike here in the US, la cantina was usually independently operated by someone else as a business inside the school, and not by the school itself. Usually, it was a relative of someone else who worked at the school, or even a parent. La cantina usually offered a wide variety of selections, from chucherías, to small snacks like pastelitos, empanadas, tequeños, or even a full meal like a Pabellón Criollo. They also had a variety of drinks, including chicha, malta, fresh fruit juices, papelon con limon, and sodas. It was basically like a small food kiosk or small restaurant inside the school. In some schools I had only one recreo (recess), but in others the day was divided by two recess periods. Either way, the cantinas would usually be packed during recreo, so I almost never wanted to buy anything. First, I would always have a big breakfast and lunch at home, plus I brought my own lunchbox, so I didn’t feel the need to buy anything in the cantina. Second, buying something in the cantina could mean that you would spend half your recess time standing in line. However, on those PT days were we would burn a ton of calories working out, I would always buy something at the cantina after PT class, when there was no line. The most common combo at the cantina that I used to buy would be an empanada and a malta; a tequeño and a malta; or a pastelito and a malta. Obviously, I love malta.
Another time where I recall eating and enjoying pastelitos was on random trips downtown with my mom. My mom was always running errands en el centro, or downtown. One of my absolute favorite errands to run with my mom was right before school started and we had to go shopping for school supplies. It was a whole adventure as a kid. We would take taxis, buses, the subway, and we also walked a lot. Going from bookstore to bookstore finding all the school supplies I needed. Most of those times we would still be running errands by lunch time, so we would have to eat somewhere before continuing our shopping. Sometimes, we would end up in a Panadería. Panaderías in Venezuela are like going to food-Disneyland for a kid. Panaderías are small food establishments where you can find pan (bread), in any type shape and form; coffee; sweets; cakes; sandwiches; pastelitos; empanadas; tequeños; meals; deli; etc. It’s like the grownups’ version of the cantina escolar. It’s like a bakery, but with a ton more options than just bread.
Both cantinas and panaderías serve these Venezuelan pastelitos. Venezuelans eat pastelitos for breakfast, lunch, dinner, as a snack or as pasapalos (hors d’oeuvre / appetizers) at parties. Pastelitos can come in many shapes and have many fillings. They can be round, square, moon-shaped, triangles, rectangles, etc. They can be filled with sweet or savory fillings. The most popular fillings are ground beef, cheese, and chicken. However, you can find many different fillings across different regions in Venezuela. For example, in the Andes you can find the common ones as well as trout, chickpeas, rice, eggs, and even cheese with guava jelly or guava paste. For this recipe, I am focusing on the salty (savory) type of pastelitos. Pastelitos can be deep fried or baked. This recipe works for both.
Note: This recipe is supposed to yield 50 pastelitos, however I think that this will depend on the shape and size of your pastelitos.
What you need:
– 4 cups of all-purpose flour
– 1 ½ tsp salt
– 3 tbsp butter (room temperature)
– 1 whole egg
– 2 egg yolks
– 1 tbsp sugar
– ¾ cup water
– Frying oil
– Paper Towels
Fillings: as mentioned above fillings can vary, but for this recipe I am using cooked ground beef and Mexican Queso Panela, which was the closest I could find to the Venezuelan Queso Blanco. The cheese should be a white hard or semi-hard cheese good for grating, and it should also be somewhat salty.
Preparation:
1. Sift the flour. If you don’t have an actual sifter, you can use a mesh strainer like I did.
2. On a large and clean flat surface, combine the flour and salt. Mix well. Then create an opening in the center of the flour and add the butter, eggs and sugar.
3. Start mixing all the ingredients with the tips of your fingers. Add water bit by bit as you mix. Mix until the dough is uniform, humid and soft. Dough should not stick to the table or your fingers when done.
4. Cover with plastic, or keep in a ziplock bag and let it rest for one hour.
5. Once again, on a large and clean flat surface, sprinkle some flour and begin extending the dough with a rolling pin. You should extend the dough very thin but without breaking it. A little less than ¼ of an inch.
From this step forward I will explain the fried and
baked processes separately
Pastelitos Fritos | Fried Pastelitos
6. You can begin assembling the pastelitos. You can do it however is easiest for you. One way is to cut the dough with a knife in two equal parts; on one side add small portions of filling separating each one by roughly two inches; then add the rest of the dough on top and use a small round mold or cup to cut each section. That way seems faster. My sister and I opted for a different strategy. First, cut out the circles, as many as you can, but make sure it’s an even number. We used a drinking glass of about 3 to 4 inch diameter. Take half of the circles and those will be your bottoms.
7. Place all the bottoms in rows and with a little bit of water, dampen the middle area where the filling will go. Add the filling, or different fillings, in the center of each bottom. You can be a bit more generous with the cheese, since it will melt when cooked and it will seem like it has less filling than the beef ones.
8. With a bit of water dampen the border of the bottom dough to help it seal with the top. Place all the rest of the circles, the tops, on top of each bottom with filling. Using a fork, press all around the border to seal and decorate each pastelito. Also, stick the fork on the top of the pastelito so the air can escape while frying. This also serves as decoration, or you can use different marks for different fillings, so they are easier to distinguish. For example, you can do 2 holes for beef and 4 for cheese.
9. With enough oil to cover the pastelitos, proceed to deep fry them until golden brown.
10. Remove the pastelitos from the oil and place on paper towels to eliminate the excess oil.
11. Serve with optional guasacaca, salsa verde, or your favorite mojo sauces. Sauces are usually served with the beef or chicken pastelitos. Enjoy with a Malta, of course.
Pastelitos Horneados | Baked Pastelitos
6. Preheat your oven at 350ºF.
7. You can follow the same procedure as the fried pastelitos’ step 6. Or you can try a different shape and technique, like we did. First, cut a larger circle than what we used for the fried pastelitos, about 5 to 6 inch diameter. Cut as many as you can from the entire dough.
8. Dampen only one half of each circle where the filling will go, and then add filling to only one side of each circle. Then you will fold the circle in half (much like the empanadas). Use a fork to press all around the border to seal and decorate each pastelito. This will give you a half circle, or moon shape for each pastelito.
9. Prep a baking sheet with baking paper or parchment paper. If you don’t have any, you can grease it with butter and add flour so the pastelitos won’t stick. Then add the pastelitos on the baking sheet. Brush each pastelito with a bit of egg yolk.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350ºF.
11. Serve with optional guasacaca, salsa verde, or your favorite mojo sauces. Sauces are usually served with the beef or chicken pastelitos. Enjoy with a Malta, of course.
¡Buen Provecho!
Venezuelan Cooking 