Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Pastel com Diabo Dentro
A crisp corn-dough pastry with a spicy tuna filling, whose fiery name means 'pastry with the devil inside'.
Cape Verdean · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 25 min
~368 cal · 28g protein · 59g carbs · 1g fat · 5g fiber · 7g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pastel com diabo dentro, pastry with the devil inside, is one of Cape Verde's most famous and evocatively named snacks. The devil refers to the fiery, spicy tuna filling hidden within its crisp shell, a favourite taste of the islands.
The dough is unusual, made from a mixture of boiled sweet potato or pumpkin and corn flour, which fries up especially crisp and golden. It is wrapped around a filling of tuna cooked with onion, tomato, and plenty of chili and herbs, then deep-fried. The contrast of the slightly sweet, crunchy shell and the hot, savoury fish inside is what makes it so addictive, sold from stalls and made in homes across the archipelago.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 cups sweet potato or pumpkin, boiled
2 cups corn flour
1 lb tinned or fresh tuna
2 cups onion, tomato, and chili
1/4 cup fresh herbs and garlic
for frying oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Mash the boiled sweet potato with the corn flour and a little water into a smooth, moldable dough.
2
Cook the tuna with the onion, tomato, garlic, and plenty of chili into a spicy, dry filling.
3
Flatten pieces of dough, add filling, and seal into pastries.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the filling dry and well sealed inside the dough, so the pastries fry up crisp without splitting or leaking.
4
Deep-fry until crisp and golden, and serve hot.
Cape Verdean street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Santiago (Praia). Grogue is distilled from sugarcane at small mills called trapiches, mostly on Santo Antao and here on Santiago, and it is drunk neat or as ponche with honey and lime. The islands are dry and volcanic, so a great deal is imported, and what the sea gives, tuna above all, does much of the work.
🗺️
Cape Verde. Cape Verde's island cuisine is anchored by cachupa, a slow-cooked stew of corn, beans, and meat or fish that's the national dish. Portuguese and African roots meet over grogue (sugarcane rum) and Atlantic seafood.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cape Verde
CachupaThe slow-simmered national stew of hominy corn, beans, and meats, endlessly reboiled and always improving.
Cuscuz DoceA steamed cornmeal cake, faintly sweet, eaten warm with butter, honey, or milk for breakfast.
Pudim de Leite (Milk Flan)A silky baked milk custard under a dark caramel, one of Cabo Verde's most popular desserts.
Browse all Cape Verde recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Deep pot for frying.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Cape Verde meal
PoncheDrink
Pudim de Leite (Milk Flan)Dessert
CachupaDinner
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Pastel com Diabo Dentro?
A crisp corn-dough pastry with a spicy tuna filling, whose fiery name means 'pastry with the devil inside'.
Where does Pastel com Diabo Dentro come from?
Pastel com Diabo Dentro is a Cape Verdean dish from Santiago (Praia), Cape Verde.
Can Pastel com Diabo Dentro be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pastel com Diabo Dentro recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pastel com Diabo Dentro safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pastel com Diabo Dentro take to make?
About 65 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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