Where it comes from
Portuguese pastéis arrived via 16th-century Cape Verdean traders in Saint-Louis and Gorée; Senegalese cooks swapped beef for fish and added chili. The closer relative is the Cape Verdean pastel de milho. Bairros' bakery in Gorée was selling them by 1890.
On the plate
Crackling crisp pastry, oil-shiny, the filling steamy and red. Bite hot — the kaani dip is fierce raw chili, vinegar-thin, designed to cut grease. Sold from glass cases at gare routière bus stations.
How it works
Dough is semolina flour (not wheat) plus butter and water, rested 30 min, rolled thin. Filling: fish (typically yaboi sardinella) cooked down with tomato and onion until dry. Fry at 180°C 4 minutes per side. Semolina gives the brittle shatter wheat won't.
The kaani sauce is named for the Wolof word for chili. Senegalese-American Pierre Thiam serves them at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Mauritanian pastels skip the fish for beef-and-egg; Senegalese never use beef.
Variations
Pastels au poisson (sardinella, the default), pastels aux crevettes (shrimp, coastal), pastels au boeuf (beef, Mauritanian-influenced, rare in Senegal), and the dessert version stuffed with sweet bean paste sold near Médina market in Dakar.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
4 steps · Show ↓29 min active · 38 min waiting
How it's made
4 steps · Show ↓- 110 min
Mix 400 g flaked white fish + 4 chopped tomatoes + 1 onion + chili + parsley.
- 238 min
Make dough: 400 g flour + 1 egg + 250 ml water + 5 g salt; knead, rest 30 min.
- 315 min
Roll thin; cut 10 cm circles; fill with 1 tbsp; fold half-moon; crimp.
- 44 min
Deep-fry in 180 °C oil 4 min until golden; serve with kaani chili-onion sauce.
