Pastels is an African food my partner should have told me a long time ago, considering my vested interest in African food. But for some reason he didn’t.
His story just popped out this last week.. As we were passing a mill, which sells stone ground flour, he piped up ” I need to get some good flour and make pastels… my mom used to make them.
I thought he ‘meant pasteis de Bacalhau -but what he described was a type of bread fritter similar to Mandazi found in east Africa, Kenya and Tanzania or Vetkoek in South Africa. He also mentioned that they were similar to “mikates” a Congolese fritter sold on the streets in the eastern province of Uige in Angola.
In the batter one can include small pieces of soaked bacalhau, which cook as you fry the fritter. His family would have them for breakfast; their mum would make them when there was no bread in the house. We had them as bite with an ice- cold beer- delicious!
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