So my wife is Caribbean and one of there traditional holiday foods is the Pastele. Its corn masa with meat filling wrapped and steamed in a Banana leaf. I know it sounds like a Tamale, because it is a Tamale, just don’t ever say that around a Caribbean person unless your trying to get a dirty look. So like Tamales, every home has there own recipe, Grandma or Auntie’s Pastele’s are the best and nothing I can make tastes right Just because.
So I decided if I cant make Pastels I will just make Tameles. I read a bunch of internet recipes to get an idea. start off with a small batch. Do the corn husk thing. Steam. My wife seems to like the “Mexican Cornbread” so great.
So not to rest on my laurels and perfect Tamales I decided to make sticky rice /w dried fruit wrapped in banana leaves. I am kind of mixing the Korean version with the SE Asia versions and doing my own thing with raisins, cranberries, figs, prunes and apricots. I have made glutinous rice before so I was not worried. But the extra moisture and the simmer with coconut milk had me worried.
So proceed stuff my leaves and steamed them. My wife would not touch them because they looked like they might be slimy in texture, even though they where not. My daughter only eats white rice wouldn’t touch them and I am a diet so I have no carbs for me.
But I continue on. I decide to tune the rice into Jiu niang or rice punch. If you ever had that clear drink at a Korean restaurant with the little rice bits floating in it, thats the stuff. So I have done this before in my Instant Pot and it turned out quite good. After three days the rice will be liquid, sweet and sparkling. A few days later the punch will turn to a sake like drink especially if I add wine yeast.
Why this is crazy is there coconut milk and salt in this concoction. Who knows how this is going to turn out.
