Jasmine's 2011 Trip: Empanadas

Empanadas. Alex and I are addicted to them, and unless you make them at home, they are not always easy to find in the states. Here, vendors sell them everywhere! They are perfect served with Aji, a spicy, citrusy mixture of finely diced onion, tomato, cilantro, pepper, and lime that you spoon onto them. One afternoon, we made empanadas at my uncle Orlando's house. I thought I'd share the recipe and some pics. Any ingredients, such as the Goya spice, not easily found in your local grocery can be ordered online.

The Dough or Masa:
1 1/2 cups precooked yellow cornmeal (masarepa)
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon Sazon Goya with azafran
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the masarepa in a large bowl. Mix in the Sazon and salt, then water and oil to form dough. Knead for a couple of minutes until smooth. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.

The Filling:
2 cups of peeled and diced white potatoes or 2 cups of rice
1 chicken bouillon tablet (if you use potatoes)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chopped white onions
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1 chopped garlic clove
2 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons of chopped red bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 pound ground pork and beef (cook fully for about 10 -15 minutes and set aside
once its fairly dry)
6 hard boiled eggs

If you want to use potato as your main filler ingredient, boil the potatoes in water with the bouillon tablet for about 20 minutes, until tender. Drain, mash and set aside. We used rice instead.
Cook 2 cups of white rice, set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat, in a large skillet. Add onion, and sauté for five minutes. Add tomato, cilantro, scallions, garlic, bell pepper, salt, and pepper.

Shred the meat, should yield about two cups.

Mix them together, salt to taste.

Cut up the hard boiled eggs.

In Colombia, you can buy pre-made dough discs at the market, so we didn't have to make it from scratch. But if you did, break up your dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon portions and form them into balls. Place the balls between two pieces of wax paper and roll each out to form a thin disc.

Scoop a couple of tablespoons of the mixture and some egg onto a disc.

If you don't have a genius contraption like this, you can just fold the dough over yourself using wax paper below the disc and seal it by pressing a fork down on the edges.

Fill a large pot with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat to 360 F.
Place up to four empanadas in the oil and fry until they turn a golden brown (about 2-3 minutes). A healthier option would be to bake them, but I don't know of anyone who has ever actually done that :), it might be sacrilegious.