This time I have a good excuse for my procrastination… I am part of a small team organizing the charity events for my daughters’ school and we concentrated our efforts in these last few weeks, so I have been crazy busy.
One of those events was the International Food Court, where several communities (Indian, Korean, Japanese, Brazilian, Portuguese, British…) brought their best dishes. I am proud to say it was an absolute success!
The Argentinian brought their delicious homemade empanadas. Laura, Cynthia and Graciela prepared them following their own different recipes and I couldn’t decide which one I liked best… they were all amazing!
So, as you can imagine, I decided to combine the three recipes and create a fourth one. I must say the empanadas were fantastic, so now I have four different recipes and I can’t choose the best. I will share mine and include some suggestions at the end.
Just one last thing: I recently posted the recipe for the Spanish albacore empanadillas, included in my tapas platter #2. You can find how to make the dough at http://www.simpletapas.com/tapas-platter-2/ and add the Argentinian empanadas to the Spanish tapas platter. They will be a perfect match!
Ingredients (for 20 small empanadas)
20 pastry rounds for empanadas
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion (about ½ pound)
2 fresh spring onions (not scallions). If not available, use regular onion.
1 can green or black olives (pitted)
2 eggs
1 large tomato
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. ground cumin
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Preparation
STEP 1.- Cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of olive oil. Add the onion and spring onion, finely chopped, and fry over medium heat until transparent.
STEP 2.- Add the garlic, cook for one minute until it starts to turn golden brown, and add the meat. Season with salt, pepper and spices to taste and use a wooden fork or spatula to break the meat into small pieces, tossing frequently. Cook until evenly browned, around 10 minutes over medium heat.
STEP 3.- Peel and grate 1 large tomato and add it to the pan. (about 4 tbsps.). Cook for 5 minutes and let cool down to room temperature.
STEP 4.- Boil 2 eggs. Place in a saucepan, cover with warm water and cook for 10 minutes since the water starts boiling. Cool down placing them in cold water, peel and dice.
STEP 5.- Chop the olives and mix with the meat and the diced eggs.
STEP 6.- Place the empanada rounds on the kitchen counter. Fill each of them with about one tablespoon of the mix and close, seal and crimp them. There are several ways to make beautiful empanadas. Here is a link to a video that includes many of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gynxn_VT-Is
STEP 7 .- Paint the empanadas with egg wash, and introduce in preheated oven at 375º for 10 minutes or until golden brown. You can also use air fryer, painting them with egg wash too. If you prefer them fried, deep fry in olive oil for 2 to three minutes until golden brown or in a pan for a couple minutes per side.
STEP 8.- I made a hot sauce that add some freshness to the empanadas, using the following ingredients and simply mixing them:
– 2 tbsps. grated tomato
– 1 green onion
– 1 tsp. Olive oil
– 1 green and 1 red chili (you can use jalapeño or another type of hot pepper)
– salt, pinch of cumin and pepper
– 1 tsp. lime juice
– a few drops of sriracha, tabasco or tapatío
Tips
- Laura doesn’t include tomatoes in her recipe, but she adds raisins
- Cynthia doesn’t add that much onion, but includes tomato sauce to make the mix juicier.
- Graciela adds more cumin and suggests including whatever ingredient you like better, for example red or green peppers, diced and fried at the same time as the onion.
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