Empanadas

No matter where you come from or where you live, you will find meat that is wrapped in some kind of bread. There are pot pies in America. Meat pies in Europe, Nigerian meat pies, Xian Bing, the Chinese meat pie, and the Jamaican meat patty popularized in American 7-11 stores, and last but not least, empanadas popular throughout Latin America as well as the Philippines.

The first mention of empanadas is found in 13^th century Spanish and Portuguese cookbooks. More likely, the idea of the empanada came from the influence of Moorish dishes of the Moors who occupied Spain and Portugal during that time.

As far as what goes into making an empanada, it varies by culture and what foods were available. Most empanadas are made from wheat bread, but in places like Columbia and Venezuela, cornbread is more popular to use.

Inside the empanada, there is also variety. In Spain, tuna and other meats, along with vegetables, are used. In Argentina, which is known for its beef, it specializes in ground beef empanadas. Latin American empanadas tend to be made with a tomato base. In the Philippines, you don’t find the tomato base, but raisins and peas find themselves combined with ground beef or shredded chicken.

 It took a lot of trial and error to come up with the right recipe to share with you today. Not only do I want to share recipes that taste good but also are healthy to eat. If you make these, please use lean meat and bake, do not fry them. Just making those two changes can alter the food and make it healthy to eat without sacrificing the taste.

So here is the recipe I came up with for healthy empanadas. I like to start with the dough.

Dough Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups Bisquick  

1 cup butter

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons ice water

olive oil spray

When I was learning this recipe, I had the worst time with the dough. Making the dough wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the dough would fall apart when I put the filling in and tried to close it.

The biggest key to making empanadas, compared to making pies, is the thickness of the empanada dough. I was used to making thin pie dough that would get bigger as you cook, but to be able to wrap empanada dough around the filling, the dough needed to be at least a quarter of an inch thick.

One of the things I came up with on my own was to use half flour and half Bisquick to create my dough. Most recipes I saw called for 3 cups of flour. By switching to 1 1/2 cups of both flour and Bisquick, it also adds some leaven and a little extra baking powder to the mixture that is in the Bisquick.

So the first thing I do is mix the flour, Bisquick, and baking powder together.

Then I take a stick of butter, melt it in the microwave, and pour it into the mixture with some cold water. Using a spoon, I stir the mixture. Make adjustments to the dough’s texture while stirring. If it’s too dry, add water. If too wet, add flour until the dough is moist yet dry enough not to stick to the spoon.

After that, roll the dough into balls and place into refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, or until the filling is ready.

Now it’s time to focus on what goes inside the empanada.

Filling Ingredients:  

1 pound ground beef

½ cup raisins

½ cup peas

1 minced yellow onion

½ cup beef broth

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

The ingredients for this empanada are heavily influenced by my association with so many Filipinos, especially my Filipina wife. The raisins is a dead give away that it is Filipino based. Filipinos love to stick something sweet into a recipe that you don’t expect something sweet to be found.

To cook this filling, heat the olive oil in a skillet, first put in the onions and let them saute for maybe four or five minutes. Then put the beef, salt and pepper in the skillet and let the meat cook for about five minutes. Next, add the raisins, paprika, and beef broth.

Cook until the meat is completely cooked, and then turn the temperature down to a simmer and remove the lid of the skillet. Leave it on a simmer until the broth has soaked into the meat or evaporated. Lastly, add pre-cooked or canned peas and cook for two more minutes, then set the skillet aside and turn the burner off.

Now it’s time to get the dough out of the refrigerator. It might be a little stiff if it has been there for a while. Take each ball that you made and work it with your hands, loosening the dough. Then place the ball of dough on some wax paper and press down with your hand to flatten it. Next, take a rolling pin and roll the dough out on the wax paper, but make sure not to spread it too thin. The dough needs to be about 1/4 of an inch thick so it won’t fall apart when you put the filling in the dough.

Take a bowl or a cup saucer and place it on top of the dough, then cut out the excess dough on the edges. I used to use a tool that was supposed to fold the dough and make the perfect empanadas every time. It didn’t work so well for me. I always filled the filling too full and then closed the empanada with the tool. When I went to open the tool and take the empanada out, the empanada would be to big on the back side of the tool to let me open it, and I ended up tearing holes in the empanada getting it out of the tool. In the end, I found it easier to simply fold the empanadas by hand.

So, once you’ve trimmed the excess dough off the edges, place a small portion of the filling on the lower half of the dough, then pull the upper half of the dough down over the filling and match up the edges of the upper and lower halves of the dough. Then pinch the edges together with your fingers or a fork.

Homemade deliciousness

Place your empanadas on a baking sheet. Take a small bowl and crack one egg. Whisk the egg well, then take a brush and brush the egg on top of the empanadas. Preheat the oven to around 375-400 degrees and place the baking sheet in the oven for 20-25 minutes. In the end, you should have enough empanadas for a party, or to last you a while if you use this recipe as part of your meal prep.