How to Make Homemade Empanadas

My love affair with empanadas started back in 2005. I was backpacking through Argentina and was on a tight budget. They were sold on every street corner, and were as delicious as they were cheap.

I ate empanadas for breakfast, lunch and dinner with varying ingredients: choclo (corn), queso (cheese), pollo (chicken) and my undisputed favorite—carne mollida (ground beef).

Empanadas are as ubiquitous in Argentina as hamburgers are in the United States, although, they have a much more colorful history. Their origins trace back centuries to the Persian Empire. During the Middle Ages, the Moorish Invasion of Iberia brought them to present day Spain and Portugal. From Europe, the tasty staple was introduced to Latin America via Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors, where the recipe was adopted and regionalized.

From country to country and province to province, the preparation and ingredients vary. Some cultures bake their empanadas, while others fry them. Argentina’s Patagonia region typically fills their empanadas with lamb, while Jujuy favors goat meat.

With respect to all preparations, I highly recommend the widely popular Empanada Criolla, which is a mixture of ground beef, onion, garlic, egg, olives and sometimes raisins.

Even if you have never been to Latin America to indulge in this traditional treat, the good news is, empanadas are not difficult to make at home.

I recently received a gracious tutorial on how to make authentic, homemade empanadas from my husband’s mother, while staying with his family in Mendoza.

Here is a recipe to sample one of Argentina’s most signature snacks wherever you are in the world. (This recipe makes one-dozen empanadas.)

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon butter
2 onion
1 ½ tablespoon of smoked paprika
2 teaspoons cumin
green olives, pitted, 1 per empanada
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced into rounds
24 raisins
salt and pepper to taste
crushed red pepper, to taste
12 empanada rounds (tapas)
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
1 glass water, to seal edges

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-high heat. Put the onions, sliced finely in rounds, in a frying pan and salt them. Sauté until they start to become translucent, then add in the beef. Cook the ground beef, chopping as it cooks with a flat spatula to maintain ground beef texture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the beef has cooked through, then taste for salt and pepper, and stir in the paprika, cumin, and crushed red pepper and mix well. Note: The meat can be made a day in advance.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the tapas on a clean lightly-floured work surface.

Add an olive, two raisins and a piece of the hard boiled egg to each round.

With a tablespoon, add the meat filling in the center of the dough round.

For sealing, you’ll need a small glass of water. Moisten the edge on the top half of the round with a little water on your finger. Fold the bottom half of the dough up until the edges meet and seal with your fingers by pressing down. The empanada should have a half-moon shape.

Use the palms of the hands to pack the filling firmly in the center. Next, fold the edges with the Repulgue: using your fingertip, fold one corner of the empanada over, pressing down firmly. Go to the edge again and repeat, pressing firmly each time. Go around the edge of the empanada and you’ll get a spiral pattern. You can also use a fork-seal, instead.

Beat an egg in a cup with salt and paint the top of each sealed empanada so that when they bake, they have a shiny, golden shell. Spread flour lightly over several cookie sheets, and place the finished empanadas on top. Poke each twice with fork to let steam escape.