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Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers)
Small half-moon turnovers of soft pastry filled with poached white fish and a garlicky parsley and chili rof, fried golden and dipped into a peppery onion and tomato sauce.
Senegalese · medium · serves 6
prep 50 min · cook 45 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~581 cal · 24g protein · 79g carbs · 18g fat · 5g fiber · 8g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pastels are small fried turnovers, the Senegalese cousin of the Portuguese pastel, and they are the classic opening to a celebration. At baptisms, weddings and family gatherings trays of them come out before the main dishes, and during Ramadan they are a favourite for breaking the fast.
The filling is usually fish, often hake, cod or mackerel, poached and flaked and mixed with rof: a pounded seasoning of parsley, spring onion, garlic, dried chili and black pepper that is also stuffed into the fish of thieboudienne. The pastry is a soft, lightly enriched dough, rolled thin, cut into rounds and folded over the filling, the edges pressed shut with a fork.
They are served hot with a small bowl of sauce for dipping, made from onions cooked down with tomato and chili.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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
- 500 g (about 4 cups) plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt, for the dough
- 50 g (3 1/2 tbsp) butter, softened
- 1 egg
- about 180 ml (3/4 cup) warm water
- 400 g white fish fillets (hake, cod or mackerel)
- 3 onions, 1/2 for poaching the fish, 2 1/2 for the sauce
- 5 garlic cloves, 3 for the rof, 2 for the sauce
- 1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 2 to 3 dried hot chilies, crushed
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil, for the sauce, plus oil for deep frying
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cube
- 100 ml (scant 1/2 cup) water, for the sauce
- to taste salt, for the filling and sauce
Instructions
- 1Make the dough: mix the flour, baking powder and salt, rub in the butter, add the beaten egg and then enough warm water to make a soft, smooth dough. Knead for 5 minutes, cover and leave to rest for 1 hour.
- 2Meanwhile put the fish in a pan with half an onion and a pinch of salt, cover with water and poach gently for 15 minutes. Drain, remove any skin and bones and flake the fish finely.
- 3Make the rof: pound or finely chop together the parsley, spring onions, 3 garlic cloves, the dried chilies and the black pepper with a pinch of salt. Mix it into the flaked fish.
- 4Make the sauce: slice the remaining onions and fry them in the 4 tbsp oil for 10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the remaining garlic, crushed, the tomato paste, the tomatoes, the crumbled stock cube and the water, and simmer for 15 minutes, until thick. Season and keep warm.
- 5Roll the dough out thinly on a floured surface and cut out rounds about 8 cm across. Put a teaspoon of filling on each, fold into a half moon and press the edges shut with a fork.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the filling off the edges, or the pastels will open in the oil.
- 6Heat oil for deep frying to 175°C (350°F) and fry the pastels in batches for 4 to 5 minutes, turning, until golden. Drain on paper.
- 7Serve hot as a starter, with the sauce for dipping.
Senegalese celebration tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Dakar. Eating is done from one bowl. The dish is set in the middle, everyone takes with the right hand from the wedge directly in front of them, and the host pushes the best pieces of fish and vegetable across to guests. Teranga, usually translated as hospitality, is what that gesture is for, and yassa, chicken or fish under onions slackened with lime and mustard, is the other dish it is performed over.
🗺️
Senegal. Senegal sits where the Sahel meets the Atlantic and both ends show up in the pot: millet and groundnuts from the drier interior thicken mafe, while the coast supplies the fish that anchors most meals. Bissap steeped from dried hibiscus flowers and the chalky, tart pulp of the baobab fruit are what gets drunk alongside.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Senegal
Thieboudienne (Senegalese Fish & Rice)Senegal’s national dish: herb-stuffed fish braised with vegetables over deeply tomato-stained broken rice.
Poulet YassaChicken smothered in a mountain of lemon-and-mustard onions, grilled then braised, Casamance’s gift to West Africa.
FondéA comforting Senegalese millet porridge cooked with milk, sugar, and a hint of orange-flower or nutmeg.
Browse all Senegal recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Senegal meal
BissapDrink
Ngalakh (Baobab & Peanut Millet Cream)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers)?
Small half-moon turnovers of soft pastry filled with poached white fish and a garlicky parsley and chili rof, fried golden and dipped into a peppery onion and tomato sauce.
Where does Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers) come from?
Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers) is a Senegalese dish from Dakar, Senegal.
Can Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Pastels (Senegalese Fish Turnovers) take to make?
About 2 h 35 min in all: 50 minutes prep and 45 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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