Toronto's own Chef Mario Cassini has fond memories of stashing a few of these favoured party treats when he was a child in Belo Horizonte. This recipe is his tried and true version of a Brazilian fiesta staple- Pasteis, courtesy of Chef Mario Cassini.
Pastry Dough
INGREDIENTS:
250 grams or ½ lb of white flour
1 tablespoon salt
¼ cup of vegetable oil
½ oz liquor (cachaça - Brazilian sugar can rum) or white rum
2 ½ cups of lukewarm water
PREPARATION:
Sift flour into bowl. Mix in salt. Mix in oil to dissolve the lumps. Add cachaca or rum. At last, add warm water, little by little, until the flour absorbs the water and achieves a homogeneous and smooth dough texture.
FILLING
INGREDIENTS:
1 small can of Heart of Palm, chopped
1 oz chopped green olives
½ cup chopped leeks
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
PREPARATION:
Preheat skillet with vegetable or olive oil. Add the ingredients one at a time and stir. Add olives and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste, once all the ingredients become soft.
ASSEMBLY:
Roll the dough out with rolling pin or pasta cylinder machine, to 4 inches wide. Place one teaspoon of the filling, one inch apart, on the centre of the stretched dough. Use a wet pastry brush around the edges of the dough to help seal the edges together. Fold over the dough (bottom to top) to seal in ingredients and cut in half moon shape with a cookie cutter. Fry in hot oil until golden colour.
Don't forget to share! And to celebrate the Chinese New Year in style, try June Chua's Year of the Pig Dumplings and enjoy.
