Empanadas (Empanadas, Spanish, sole Empanada) is a traditional pastry, very popular in the Iberian Peninsula and in Latin America. It is a baked or fried pies with a juicy filling. Options for toppings for empanadas set (depends on local traditions and family-personal preferences). It should be noted that their versions of recipes originally Spanish empanadas pies exist not only in Spanish, but also in Galician, Catalan, Argentine and Portuguese cuisines. Patties empanadas usually prepared from wheat flour with the addition of beef (or other) fat (in some provinces - with the addition of cassava flour).
Argentinian empanadas
For the inhabitants of Argentina, empanadas is not an exotic dish, it's everyday, everyday food. The stuffing for empanadas is made from different kinds of meat (from meat of different animals and birds), sometimes with the addition of potatoes, olives, eggs and even raisins. Shrimp, cheese, ham, spinach can also be used. Empanadas with a sweet filling is called pastel or pastelito.
Cooking empanadas
So, empanadas, the recipe is close to authentic.
Ingredients for the dough:
- about 1 kg of wheat flour;
- 2 cups of water (350-400 ml);
- a pinch of salt;
- 4 tablespoons of melted fat (pork or, for example, chicken, goose).
Ingredients for filling:
- about 500 g of beef, not too lean;
- 150 g of natural butter;
- 4 tablespoons of melted animal fat;
- 3 onions;
- 1/2 cup of green or dark olives without pits;
- 1 tablespoon of ground sweet red paprika;
- 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds;
- a bunch of green onions;
- 2-4 tablespoons olive (or sunflower) oil;
- slightly oregano;
- 3 hard-boiled eggs;
- salt;
- pepper ground in different kinds.
Preparation:
We prepare the dough for empanadas. In the boiling salted water, add the pork fat, stir and slightly cool this mixture. We knead the dough, it is better to use a mixer with a special nozzle, well, or first a large fork, and then hands. Form a ball from the test. Sprinkle the working surface with flour and mix the dough until it stops sticking to the hands. We divide it into parts and put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours to get out. While the dough dissolves, we prepare the filling.
We chop the meat with a sharp knife into tiny pieces. Prisalivaem and sprinkle with pepper. In a frying pan, warm up 6 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of fat. Fry the finely chopped onion until it is clear. Add the ground paprika, cumin and chopped white parts of the green onion stalks. Fry, stirring the spatula for another minute. 2. Remove from the fire and add the crushed green parts of onion stems. With a pepper, salt. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in another pan and fry half of the meat. Meat should be fried, not stewed! Remove the meat from the frying pan and fry the second portion. Now add the fried meat to the onions, add the remaining fat and oregano. The filling should be cooled and even put for a short time in
We knead the dough and form from it a cake with a diameter of about 11-12 cm. The ends of the cakes are greased with water for better gluing. For each half of each cake we put a little meat filling, a small piece of butter, a piece of eggs and an olive. Fold in half, covering the filling with a free edge. We glimpse empanadas around the edges. And then - or bake on a baking sheet in the oven, or fry in a frying pan in oil or grease.
Ready ruddy empanadas is usually eaten by hand, washed down with Argentine red table wine.