Pastel com Diabo Dentro

Medium·50 min active + 40 min resting

Cape Verdean 'pastry with the devil inside' — a deep-fried half-moon pastry whose dough is made from puréed sweet potato and cornmeal, stuffed with a spicy tuna (or minced meat) filling. The 'devil' is the fiery malagueta pepper (Capsicum frutescens) hidden inside. The universal Cape Verdean street snack and finger food.

Pastel com diabo dentro (literally 'pastry with the devil inside') is Cape Verde's most-popular street snack and finger food. It marries the Portuguese pastel (fried-pastry) tradition with West African heat: the distinctive dough is made not from wheat but from mashed sweet potato and cornmeal, and the 'devil' is the malagueta chili in the tuna filling. The nickname is said to come from Santiago (home to the capital, Praia), where the pastéis were made devilishly hot; on other islands the filling can be mild.

Bite into a pastel com diabo dentro — golden-crispy, faintly sweet sweet-potato-and-cornmeal pastry; the bite reveals a spicy tuna filling with bright tomato-onion notes. Then the 'devil' kicks in — malagueta heat builds quickly and lingers. The name is honest. With cold Strela beer and a wedge of lime, this is the Cape Verdean beach snack.

The dough is distinctive — puréed sweet potato bound with cornmeal, not wheat — giving a crisp, faintly sweet, slightly chewy shell. The heat is the malagueta pepper (a Capsicum frutescens, ~60,000–100,000 SHU); its capsaicin activates the TRPV1 heat-receptor, so the brain reads a chemical signal as burning, and because capsaicin is fat-soluble the heat lingers. Cooking the filling thoroughly (driving off moisture) before assembly ensures the pastel doesn't leak or burst during frying.

Variations

With minced meat filling. With chicken. Less spicy version (for kids). Mini pastels for catering.

On the Palate

Where Pastel com Diabo Dentro sits in the Cape Verdean flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Cook the filling until it's thick and dry before it goes in the dough — any leftover moisture steams inside the pastel and blows it open in the hot oil.

Techniques

Deep Frying

Ingredients

Serves 8

for fryingVegetable Oil

2 tspSalt

200 mlWater

How it's made

9 steps · 50 min active + 40 min waiting

1
40 min
Make dough: combine 500 g flour + 50 g cornstarch + 1 tsp salt + 50 g lard + 200 ml warm water. Knead 8 min. Rest 30 min.
2
8 min
Make filling: drain 300 g canned tuna. In a pan, sauté 1 chopped onion + 4 garlic + 1-2 finely-chopped scotch bonnets (the 'devil') in 3 tbsp olive oil 6 min.
3
9 min
Add the tuna + 2 chopped tomatoes + 1 tsp paprika + 1/2 tsp cumin + 1 tsp salt + chopped parsley + chopped scallion; cook 8 min until thick.
Watch out
Cook the filling down until it mounds on the spoon with no watery pool — that's dry enough to wrap.
4
8 min
Cool the filling.
5
4 min
Roll dough thin (3 mm). Cut into 12-cm circles.
6
8 min
Place 1 tbsp filling on half; fold over to make half-moon; press edges with fork to seal.
7
8 min
Heat 3 cm oil to 180°C.
Watch out
Oil at 180°C should bubble briskly around a dropped crumb of dough without smoking.
8
7 min
Deep-fry pastels 3-4 min per side until golden-crispy.
Watch out
Fry until each side is evenly golden and crisp, 3–4 minutes, turning once.
9
3 min
Drain. Serve hot.