Pastechi is a flaky, crescent-shaped pastry filled with various proteins and vegetables. This version is beefy, rich, fragrant, and baked instead of fried!
During a family vacation in Aruba, a tiny island nestled in the heart of the Caribbean, I stumbled upon “Pastchi’s,” a quintessential Aruban breakfast food. The first bite was a revelation that unveiled a hidden gem of Aruba’s culinary heritage. Since finding Pastchi’s in the U.S. is not easy, I made this quick and easy recipe to hold us over until our next visit to Aruba.
Pastchi’s are a traditional Aruban breakfast with considerable cultural influences. The savory, protein-filled pastry is delicious, filling, and not as complicated to put together as you may think. Make the dough, chill it, prepare the filling in the meantime, and you’ll have pastechis before you know it.
Many pastechi recipes call for deep frying, but these are baked. In addition to making them a little healthier, baking decreases cooking time because you can cook all the pastries at once instead of in batches. They still turn out golden brown, crispy, and piping hot (seriously, let them cool before taking a bite).
Why You’ll Love Pastechi
Protein – Every pastechi contains a generous amount of protein. You can increase that even more with hard-boiled eggs, beans, etc.
Loaded with vegetables – The filling contains carrots, celery, onion, and more – pastechi has it all.
Full-flavored – Every bite has this intense beefiness enhanced by the flavor and aromatics of the vegetables used. The pastry is flaky and buttery, and both elements come together seamlessly.
Easy assembly – Divide the dough, roll, fill, and seal. Assembly is straightforward and makes for an excellent group activity when you have company. Pastechi party, anyone?
Pastechi Ingredients Notes
To make pastechis, you will need the following:
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is perfect for flaky, crunchy dough. Bread flour will yield a dough that is too tough, while flour with less protein will yield a dough that falls apart.
- Butter: The fat helps form the dough and contributes to pastechi’s signature flakiness. Chill it before use so you can easily cut it into the flour.
- Eggs: Pastechi dough is simply an egg-enriched pie dough. The addition adds flavor and moisture.
- Cold water: Emphasis on cold (it keeps the fat from warming any further).
- Beef: I find that 80/20 ground beef works best. It’s flavorful because it has a fair amount of fat, but not so much that it makes the filling greasy.
- Vegetables: Vegetables like onion, celery, and carrots add texture, sweetness, vitamins, minerals, and more. They also play a crucial role in lightening up each bite. Otherwise, you’ll just have meat and pastry.
- Bouillon: A little beef bouillon enhances the beefy flavor of the filling and also boosts the savory factor. Furthermore, the glutamates add umami.
Find the complete list of ingredients in the recipe card below!
How to Make Pastechi
- Prepare the dough: Cut butter into the flour, mix in the egg, and follow with cold water to bring the dough together. Once it’s ready, wrap the dough in plastic and chill it for a few hours.
- Make the filling: As the dough gets nice and cold, put that time to good use by making the filling. Sauté the aromatics, add the beef and seasonings, sauce it up (slightly), and the pastechi filling will be ready before you know it.
- Roll the dough out: Before you do, lightly flour your work surface and divide the dough in half. Once done, roll the dough thin and cut it into circles. If the pastechi dough gets too warm, it sticks more, may fall apart, and become challenging to handle, so work swiftly.
- Fill and bake: Add a spoonful of filling onto each dough round, brush the edge with milk, fold the dough over to create a half-circle, and seal with the tines of a fork. Once done, transfer to a baking sheet, brush with milk, and bake for 20 minutes.
Variations, Substitutions, and Cooking Tips
Deep fry – To deep fry, heat neutral oil with a high smoke point to 350 degrees and fry in small batches for 3-4 minutes per side. When done, place pastechis on a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil and transfer to a wire rack. If you choose to fry, remember that frying requires a little more time and effort since you have to work in smaller batches to avoid overcrowding (you don’t want to steam the pastries) and monitor the oil temperature.
Use another protein – Try shredded beef instead of ground beef, pork, chicken, or tofu. Feel free to use leftovers to save time.
Add additional mix-ins – Try peas, spinach, cheese, and others to customize the pastries, or swap the Tabasco for your favorite hot sauce.
No milk? – Brush the pastechi with heavy cream or egg wash instead.
Use a marble slab – If you have one, use it. Marble pastry slabs stay cold, which keeps the dough cold as you roll it thin. Doughs are also less prone to sticking to marble, meaning you can use less flour for dusting.
Or try a marble rolling pin – They have the same benefits as a slab. They’re also pretty heavy, and the additional weight makes it easier to flatten cold dough.
Use a cup to cut dough rounds – If you don’t have a biscuit or cookie cutter, use a glass to cut the dough into rounds.
Pastechi
Pastechi is a flaky, crescent-shaped pastry filled with various proteins and vegetables. This version is beefy, rich, fragrant, and baked instead of fried!
Ingredients
Dough
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup cold water
- Milk, as needed for assembly
Filling
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ large yellow onion, finely chopped
- ½ green bell pepper, finely chopped
- ½ cup finely diced carrot
- ½ cup finely diced celery
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon granulated beef bouillon
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¼ cup diced Roma tomato, seeds removed
- ½ tablespoon tabasco
Instructions
- Whisk the flour and salt in a bowl.
- Cut the butter into small cubes and add it to the flour. Use a pastry cutter, fork, or clean hands to work the butter into the flour. If using your hands, employ a quick, pinching motion for the best results.
- Once the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, stir in the eggs.
- Slowly add water as you knead until the dough is hydrated enough to form a ball. You may not need all the water.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 1-2 hours.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for the filling in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion, bell pepper, diced carrot, and celery—Sauté for 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Then, toss the garlic into the skillet and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the meat, salt, pepper, and granulated bouillon. Cook while breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon until browned. This will take 5-7 minutes.
- Create a little space in the center of the pan (push the meat and vegetables aside) and pour in the tomato sauce and soy sauce.
- Start stirring everything together once the sauces start to sizzle and thicken slightly.
- Stir in the tomatoes and Tabasco. Remove the filling from the heat once the tomato juices cook off.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. If needed, add a pinch more salt and pepper to the filling.
- Divide the dough in half and leave half in the refrigerator.
- Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll half the dough into a very thin sheet, aiming for the thinnest possible without tearing.
- Cut the dough into rounds using a 3-4 inch cookie/biscuit cutter.
- Fill each round with 1-1 ½ tablespoons of filling (use slightly more for 4-inch rounds). Lightly brush the edges with milk, fold over, and seal using the tines of a fork.
- Transfer the pastechi to a baking sheet and continue until all are done.
- Once you move on to the second half of the dough, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- When all the pastechi are filled, brush their tops with milk, then bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 233Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 279mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 9g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.
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