Argentinian Empanadas
You'll love these juicy meat pastries like you love any pie or pastie. You can use other meat for this recipe - if it's not mince, make sure it is cut into tiny pieces.
Ingredients
Serves: 10
- 125g margarine
- 2 onions, chopped
- 500g beef mince
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon hot paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/4 cup (45g) sultanas
- 1/2 cup chopped and pitted green olives
- 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- salt to taste
- 500g puff pastry sheets, thawed
Directions
Preparation:20min ›
Cook:30min ›
Extra time:30min cooling ›
Ready in:1hour20min
- Melt the margarine in a frypan and add the chopped onions. Cook the onions until just before they begin to turn golden. Remove from the heat and stir in the sweet paprika, hot paprika, chilli flakes and salt to taste.
- Put the meat in a colander or large strainer and pour boiling water over it (to partially cook it) then allow to cool. Place meat in a dish add salt to taste, cumin and vinegar. Mix and add the meat to the onion mixture. Mix well and place on a flat to dish to cool and harden.
- Cut puff pastry dough into 10 rounds. Place a spoonful of the meat mixture on each round; add some of the raisins, olives and chopped hard boiled egg. Avoid reaching the edges of the pastry with the filling because its oiliness will prevent good sealing.
- Slightly wet the edge of the pastry, fold in two and stick edges together. The shape should resemble that of a half-moon. You should have a 1.5 cm flat edge of pastry to work with. Seal by twisting edge, step by step, between thumb and index finger, making sure to add pressure before releasing the pinch and moving on to the next curl. Other sealing procedures like pinching without curling or using a fork to seal will not prevent juice leaks during baking, and empanadas must be juicy.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place empanadas on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Be sure to prick each empanada with a fork near the curl to allow steam to escape during baking. Glaze with egg and bake until golden, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Similar Recipes
Recently Viewed
Reviews and Ratings
Global Ratings:
(116)
Reviews in English (81)
My mom is from Peru and she makes empandas from a very similar recipe. This recipe gets two thumbs up for its authenticity! The only difference between my mom's empanadas and this recipe is the way you cook the beef. In my mom's recipe the beef is fried with all of the seasonings and onions. It is then drained of its excess fat. 80% lean works best because it prevents the meat from getting dried out when baking. I grew up eating beef empanadas and they are great! I think condiments really add something to the empandas; we always ate them with either lemon squeezed over them which works really well with the sweetness of the raisins and the spicyness of the paprika. The second option was to pour a few shakes of hotsauce to into your empanada. Cayenne peppersauce is excellent on an empanada! - 13 Dec 2004 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
Go to the frozen foods and get the Goya or Saltano brand of empanada dough. You won't get an authentic empanada with puff pastry. You can fills these with veggies, chicken, ham and cheese (sprinkle oregano for an authentic Argentine flavor). In Argentina they use different patterns in the crust edges to distinguish the type of empanda that you are eating. In my opinion the raisins are a more Chilean style and my husband's family, nor our friends include them, but I'm sure this varies from family to family. - 05 Mar 2008 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
I only made the filling from this recipe (made my own empanada dough from scratch)and it was great! Very authentic tasting! I am only giving it 4 stars instead of 5, because traditional Argentinean empanadas are made with dough and not puff pastry. Also, you can simply saute the beef before using...no need to make it more complicated by using a sieve. It ends up tasting the same. Give this one a try!! - 24 Dec 2007 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)