In Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Caribbean coast of Colombia, the dish looks like a tamal.

Related to alcapurria, tamales, hallacas, and guanimes, pasteles were originally made by the indigenous people of Boriquen (Puerto Rico).

[2] The meat is prepared as a stew and usually contains any combination of Boston butt, ham, bacon, raisins, chickpeas, sliced pickled pimiento peppers, olives and capers, and is commonly seasoned with bay leaves, recaito, tomato sauce, adobo seco, and annatto oil, but the seasoning is not limited to these nor are root vegetables.

Traditionally masa was flavored breadcrumbs and butter, almonds were added to the filling and a chili would be tucked on one end of every pastel.

Once made, pasteles can either be cooked in boiling water, steamed, barbecued (smoked or slow grilling), or frozen for later use.

Broth, milk, butter, annatto oil is added to the masa and is typically filled with shredded chicken and other ingredients.

Although calling them mamies has lost use in recent generations it is still the official name in Carmen Aboy Valldejuli's book Cocina Criolla[4] (the Puerto Rican "culinary bible").

This is the typical meal of the Nochebuena Dinner (Christmas Eve), in the Caribbean Coast Region of Colombia[7] since their humble beginnings.

The meat is sautéed with garlic, bell peppers, onions, cilantro, tomato sauce and lippia (Caribbean oregano).

Sour orange juice has slowly lots its way into Dominican pasteles and has been more Puerto Rican using adobo seco, milk, broth, and annatto oil to season masa.

Some date indicates that at the beginning of the 20th century pasteles made its way from Puerto Rico to San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.

Although the first recipes appear in a Dominican cookbook, pasteles were first written about in aguinaldo Puertorriqueño in 1843 about Puerto Rican Christmas traditions.

[9] Trinidadian pastelles are small meat-filled cornmeal pies stuffed with meat, fish or vegetables seasoned with fresh herbs and flavored with raisins, olives and capers wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf.