Pasteles de Arroz (Rice Pasteles)

4.41 from 5 votes

Love traditional Puerto Rican Pasteles? Then you will love these Pasteles de Arroz (Rice Pasteles)! These are just so delicious and the flavor will remind you so much of traditional Puerto Rican Pasteles! Perfect for the holidays!

Prep Time2

Cook Time1 30

Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Puerto Rican

Servings: pasteles

Calories: 274kcal

Author: Catherine Arena

Ingredients

Pork Filling

3 pounds pork shoulder, butt, roast or boneless ribs rinsed and cut into ½ inch cubes
3 tablespoon Puerto Rican sofrito
6 cloves garlic mashed
1 tablespoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon oregano
½ tablespoon cumin
1 packet Sazon with Annatto found in Latin section of supermarket
⅓ cup tomato sauce
salt to taste
1 cup water
½ cup vinegar
handful fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon annatto oil/achiote oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoon pimiento stuffed olives optional
⅓ cup garbanzo beans optional
2-3 tablespoon roasted pimiento peppers optional

Other Ingredients

1½-2 green plantains peeled and grated
2 cups medium or long grain rice
hot sauce and ketchup for serving

Materials Needed

1 package plantain leaves
pasteles paper or parchment paper
twine
grater

Instructions

Presoak Rice

Rinse rice under cool running water.
Place rice in a bowl and presoak in 2 cups hot water for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

Getting Pork Ready for Filling

Rinse pork under cool water and cut into ½ inch cubes.
Although this step is not necessary, it is a good idea to soak pork cubes in vinegar for 20 minutes as this will quickly help to tenderize it. Then rinse pork well.

Cooking Pork

Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to a pot over medium heat.
Add pork and sear for a few minutes.
Add the fresh garlic, sofrito, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, Sazon, tomato sauce, cilantro, olives, garbanzo beans, pimiento peppers and one cup of water.
Add salt to taste. Stir and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat.
After 30 minutes, add 2 tablespoons of achiote/annatto oil to pork and stir.
Continue cooking pork for another 30 minutes or until pork is tender.
Taste for seasoning, add additional salt if needed.

Grating Plantain(s)

Using a grater, grate plantains on it's finest side.
After a minimum of two hours of rice soaking, drain water and add 1½ cups of broth from pork. Stir.
Add grated plantain puree.
Stir plantain puree into rice and allow rice to continue soaking until ready to use.

Preparing Plantain Leaves

Remove plantain leaves from package and cut 30 pieces into 6x8 inch pieces.
Under warm water rinse each leaf on both sides.

Make Leaves Pliable

Option 1
After rinsing leaves, turn stove on.
Taking one leaf at a time, briefly score leaf over burner on both sides.
Proceed until all leaves are done.
Wipe each leaf with a damp cloth. Set leaf aside until ready to use.
Option 2
In a medium size pot, add enough water to cover plantain leaves. Allow water to come to a boil and add about ½ teaspoon of salt to water. Add leaves to pot. Let leaves soak in water for 5 minutes.
Turn off pot. Remove leaves and wipe each leaf with a cloth or paper towel on both sides to dry.
Set leaves aside until ready to use.

Paper for Pasteles

If you cannot find ready to use pasteles paper, simply use parchment paper.
Cut 30 pieces into 12x16 inch.

Twine

Cut 30 pieces of twine. Each piece measuring 3 yards.

Forming Pasteles de Arroz

Have your rice, pork filling, paper, plantain leaves and twine side by side.
Place your parchment paper on a flat surface. Add plantain leaf and proceed with adding a teaspoon of achiote oil to leaf.
Using the back of a spoon, spread the achiote oil to cover surface of plantain.
Add 2 tablespoons of rice mixture to leaf and spread lengthwise.
Add two tablespoons of pork mixture to the center of rice masa.
Top with additional olives, garbanzo beans and roasted pimiento pepper if wanted.

Folding Pasteles de Arroz

(Refer to pictures for next steps)
Bring parchment paper over mixture and continue rolling over to fully enclose mixture snugly.
Fold one side of parchment paper underneath pastel and repeat procedure with the other end.
NOTE: At this point you con individually tie pastel(es) or continue making the other pasteles and then stack two at a time to form a bundle of two together before tying with twine.
Fold twine in half and place underneath pastel to form a hoop.
String twine through center of hoop in twine and snug pastel.
Bring the ends over to other sides of pastel and go underneath pastel with twine.
Flip pastel over and repeat procedure again.
Finally tie a knot to keep pasteles secure and snug.
Note: Do not squeeze pasteles with twine too much as when they cook, the rice will swell up and needs slight space to fluff.
At this point you can either cook pasteles right away or you can freeze them. (Refer to post for freezin pasteles)

Cooking Pasteles

In a medium to large pot, over medium high heat, add enough water to cover pasteles.
Add about a teaspoon of salt to water.
Cover pot and cook for a minimum of 1 hr. Preferably 1½ hours.

Serving Pasteles de Arroz

When pasteles are cooked, using tongs or a fork, remove pastel bundles from water allowing excess water to drain from pasteles.
Place on a plate. Using scissors, cut twine. Open ends of paper and roll pastel out.
Discard paper and either serve pastel on top of plantain leaf or discard as well.
Serve pasteles with a side of hot sauce and ketchup.
Enjoy!

Notes

Note: Traditional pasteles only need 1 hour to cook but Pasteles de Arroz (Rice Pasteles) I prefer to cook an additional 30 minutes to guarantee rice is fully soft and extra fluffy.

Nutrition