Empanadas (empanada) are deep-fried filled patties especially popular in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. For the preparation of the classic empanadas dough, pork fat (lard) is used, but in some adapted recipes it is replaced with butter. Below is a recipe for Argentine empanadas, close to the traditional one.
It is necessary
- For the test:
- - 700 g of wheat flour;
- - 100 g of pork lard;
- - 10 g of table salt;
- - 300 ml of hot drinking water.
- For filling:
- - 500 g of lean ground beef;
- - 5 green onion feathers;
- - 1 medium onion;
- - 1 red bell pepper;
- - 15 olives;
- - 2 boiled eggs;
- - sweet and spicy ground paprika;
- - cumin;
- - salt, black pepper;
- - 100 ml of beef broth.
- Moreover:
- - vegetable oil for deep fat.
Instructions
Step 1
Put the lard in a saucepan, put on fire and melt until liquid. Pour the salt with water and stir to completely dissolve the crystals. Sift flour through a sieve. Pour into a bowl with high sides, gradually stir in salted water and lard. Thus, knead the dough, which should be sufficiently plastic and not sticky, and bubbles should form on its surface.
Step 2
Blind a bun out of dough, wrap with cling film and leave for 30-40 minutes indoors. Then roll out a layer about 2 cm thick from the dough, while the working surface should be dry, not sprinkled with flour. Using a thin-walled glass or a round mold, cut out blanks for future pies from the dough. Place them on top of each other and cover with cling film to prevent winding.
Step 3
For the filling, finely chop the onion and red pepper. Heat some oil in a frying pan and sauté the vegetables. Add minced meat and fry for a short period of time - the meat should change color. Remove skillet from heat. Add ground paprika, cumin, freshly ground pepper, chopped olives and adjust the thickness by pouring in a little broth. Stir and refrigerate for a while.
Step 4
Peel the eggs, chop finely, add to the filling. Place a spoonful of the filling on each round dough piece. Moisten the edges with drinking water and blind them with a pigtail, like with dumplings.
Step 5
Heat vegetable oil in a tall container with thick walls, dip a few pies in deep fat and fry them until golden brown. Place ready-made empanadas on paper towels to allow excess oil to glass. If you wish, you can cook Argentinian pies in the oven instead of deep fat, for this you need to put the blanks on baking sheets oiled or covered with parchment, grease on top with a mixture of egg yolk, shaken with a whisk with milk, and place in an oven preheated to 230 ° C for 15 minutes.
