My husband was in a cooking mood today and was feeling excited about making Empanadas Argentinas. Usually his mom would make these for us, but since we are a million miles from his side of the family now, we started are own tradition today by making homemade Empanadas, Argentina style.
The wonderful thing about empanadas is how diverse their filling can actually be. So many countries have their own version of "The Empanada". You can fill them with anything you like really. I have found recipes for meat lovers all the way to spinach and cheese, and they are all so delicious! Today I am featuring my husbands version of his mom´s Argentinian empanadas. Hope you enjoy these as mush as we do!
INGREDIENTS FOR 24 Empanads:
Since I use my mother in law´s recipe, this here is in grams.
You should have no problem converting this recipe into cups by an online converter.
MASA (Dough):
500g all purpose flour.
2 table spoon of fine salt
2 medium egg
200g of pig or cow fat / butter or shortening room temperature
9-10 table spoons of lukewarm water
Preparations for Masa:1. Mix flour and salt together
2. Add the soft butter into dry mix and break it up until you get a crumbled texture
3. Add beaten egg to mix and incorporate
4. Add water all at once and start to work the masa till you have a firm round ball
5. Refrigerate for 30 mins in a tea towel
6. Divide into 24 equal pieces and roll into small balls.
7. ONCE MEAT IS COOLED with a bit of flour and a rolling pin roll out masa to the width/size of a typical Mexican corn tortilla
8. Fill your masa disks with a large table spoon of meat mix in the center. Fold over flap and pinch the edges shut.
9. Brush empanada with a bit of egg wash and place on a backing sheet. Ready to bake
*You can find on youtube many videos showing how to pinch the empanada shut. Really, it is quite easy!
INGREDIENTS FOR MEAT FILLING:
1 Onion (red/white/ or yellow) diced
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 LB of lean ground meat (we prefer beef)
1 Table spoon Oregano
1 table spoon of dry Parsely
2 Tea spoon Salt
1 Tea spoon Black Pepper
8 Green Olives chopped
2 Medium eggs boiled and chopped
3 Table spoons Olive oil to stir fry onion, garlic and meat
*tip...fill Empanads with meat, sugar, rasins and cinnamon for an Arab twist. Message me for recipe =)
Preparation:
1. Saute onions for 2 minutes, then add minced garlic. DO NOT BROWN THE GARLIC at all. once the garlic has been tossed around for a few seconds add meat.
2. Add salt, pepper, and dry oregano and parsley.
3. Brown meat and make sure that there are no raw parts, use a fork to break it up.
4. Simmer for a few minutes and remove from heat. You don´t want your meat too dry, because it will continue to cook in oven for almost 20 min.
5. Add hard boiled egg and olives to meat mix
6. Taste for salt levels, dd some if necessary though I doubt you would need more salt since olives add a bit of their own salty flavor to the mix.
7. Let meat cool while you prepare the dough for filling
*Cook at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes
