Crispy, fried dough stuffed with a soft, spiced chickpea filling and served with pickled red onion salsa. Colombia loves its deep-fried treats and this highly underrated pasty deserves at least a spot in the top 3. The recipe is vegan.
Jump to RecipeHaz clic en Receta de Pasteles de Garbanzo para la receta en español.
Colombian Fried Snacks
It is no secret that Colombians like their snacks fried. In small towns and in big cities you find vendors selling deep-fried treats all over. Some of the favorites are:
- Empanadas (fried and stuffed corn meal dough snacks), check out Vegan Colombian Empanadas (with Step-by-Step-Instructions)
- Papas rellenas (stuffed and deep-fried potato)
- Palitos de queso (cheese sticks on steroids)
- Carimañolas (stuffed and fried cassava dough)
Less famous is however the pastel de garbanzo, featured today in this post.
Colombian Fried Chickpea Pasties (Pasteles de Garbanzo)
Pasteles de garbanzo are a popular street snack in the district of Norte de Santander, in the east of the country, and are less known in the rest of Colombia. They are also known by the name sombreros cucuteños, because of their shape (like a little sombrero) and the city they come from (Cúcuta; the capital of Norte de Santander).
Pasteles de garbanzo are a great example of Colombian home cooking, meaning there is not one right or wrong recipe for this fried treat. The exact ingredients can differ, but usually, they are made of wheat flour dough and are stuffed with a chickpea, onion, and spice mixture. Sometimes they contain ground beef, although most often they are vegetarian. You serve them with pickled red onion salsa (ají or encurtido de cebolla morada) or a spicy ají (Colombian Hot Sauce).
Ingredients
Chickpeas Fastest and easiest is to use canned chickpeas. You can boil chickpeas yourself, but be aware that your chickpea mash might be a bit more liquid than when using canned chickpeas.
Dough Traditional dough often contains either eggs, pork fat, or butter. For this vegan version, you only need flour, water, and oil.
Instructions
1. Prepare the dough by kneading flour, water, and oil. Let rest in the fridge for 2 hours.
2. Prepare filling by cooking onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add spices until fragrant, and tomato. Add mashed chickpeas and season.
3. Mix well, let the mixture cool down and form 6 balls.
4. Roll out the dough and using a cookie cutter or a bowl, cut out 12 circles of approx. 10 cm in diameter.
5. Place a ball of filling on the dough. Brush the edges with water and place a second circle on top.
6. Press out the air and close with a fork. Fry in oil for 7-10 minutes until evenly golden.
Tips and recommendations for the best vegetarian pasties
Even though preparing these vegetarian pasties is not complicated, there are some things to take into account to assure you will get the best result
- The chickpea filling should be firm. Make sure you let evaporate any liquid from the tomato or the cooked chickpeas. You should be able to form balls with the dough that maintain their shape.
- Do not skip the resting time of the dough. Because you only knead the dough shortly, it needs its time resting. If not, the dough will remain too elastic for you to roll it out as thinly as you want it to be. If the dough is too thick, you won’t get a crispy fried result.
- Fry them long enough. On high heat, the pasties will turn golden in minutes. That won’t be enough to fully cook through the dough. Make sure to use a slightly lower temperature, allowing you to fry the pasteles for about 7-10 minutes.
You might also like:
Vegan Colombian Empanadas (With Step-by-Step-Instructions) (FRIED STUFF)
Colombian Cheese and Spinach Empanadas (Cheese ánd frying??)
Vegan Hearts of Palm Ceviche with Green Plantain Chips (still fried chips, but slightly healthier because of the hearts of palm ceviche)
Patacones (Fried Green Plantains) (a classic recipe)
Colombian Chickpea Stew (delicious basic chickpea stew recipe, without fried things)
Ají Picante (Colombian Hot Sauce) (to serve with the pasteles de garbanzo)
Credits
This Youtube video was helpful in understanding there is not 1 right recipe, and getting an idea about the ingredients of a pickled red onion salsa.
Do you love this recipe? Give it a 5-star rating below and leave me a comment! Or tag @vecinavegetariana on Instagram. You can also pin this recipe now and make it later!
Colombian Fried Chickpea Pasties (Pasteles de Garbanzo)
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- oil, for frying
Dough
- 240 grams all-purpose flour (2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 120 ml water, plus 1-4 tablespoons more (1/2 cup)
- salt
Filling
- 230 g canned chickpeas
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 scallions, chopped finely
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
- 1 tsp achiote powder (omit if you can't find it, it gives a red color to the mixture)
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tomato, diced finely
- salt and pepper, generously
Pickled red onion salsa (ají de cebolla morada)
- 1/2 red onion, diced super finely
- juice of 1 lime
- 3 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tsp white sugar
- handful chopped cilantro
- salt
Instructions
Prepare the dough
- Add all ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead with your hands until it forms a soft ball. If the mixture sticks to your hands, it's too wet: add some flour. If the ball doesn't hold shape and falls apart it's too dry: add some water. Cover the dough with a towel and place in the refrigerator to rest for 2 hours
Prepare the filling
- In the meantime, prepare the filling. Mash up the chickpeas with a fork and set aside.Cook onion and garlic in vegetable oil on a low to medium heat until soft (5-10 minutes). Add cumin and achiote and cook for an additional 3 minutes until fragrant. Add diced tomatoes, pepper and salt. Cook until the liquid evaporated (10-15 minutes). Lastly, add the mashed chickpeas and mix well. Season well with salt and pepper. Let cool and divide the filling into 6 balls, a bit smaller than the size of a golf ball
Shape the pasteles
- Take the dough out of the fridge. On a clean surface sprinkled with some flour, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough as thinly as you can (the dough is tough and it might take some work rolling it out thinly). Use a cookie cutter or a bowl to cut out 12 circles (diameter of about 10 cm). Stretch out the circles of dough even a bit more with your handsPlace a ball of filling onto 1 circle. Brush the edges with water and place a second circle on top. Seal with your fingers, making sure you press out the air around the filling. Close by pressing a fork into the dough all around. Repeat for the other pasties and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to rest
Prepare onion salsa (ají de cebolla morada)
- Mix together all the ingredients of the red onion salsa except the cilantro and salt in a small pot. Bring to a boil, turn low and let simmer for 2 minutes. Pour in a bowl and let cool. Add salt and cilantro
Fry the pasteles
- Heat up the oil in the frying pan. Fry the pasteles on medium heat for about 7-10 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. They will float, therefore turn them halfway in order to cook them evenly. You probably have to fry them in batches. Place on paper towels to drain excess oil. Serve with pickled red onion salsa or ají picante (Colombian hot sauce)
Really tasty and so crunchy! Even better reheated in the oven the next day 🙂
I’m happy you liked them! Reheated sounds great 🙂