Argentinian Meat Empanadas (Empanadas de carneo)
Few things are more sublime than a good empanada! Many think that real empanadas have to be deep fried to reach their full potential. A good fried empanada, freshly made still warm and juicy, can be a unique gastronomical experience! Also, if you wish to use ready made dough shells for empanadas, choose the ones that say empanada dough for oven, not the puff pastry ones.
Ingredients
- 18 empanada shells, creole type.
- Or, if you knead the dough 750 gr. of flour, a cup of beef fat, salt, boiling water.
- 3 lb. meat: your favorite tender beef cut
- 2 onions.
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 handful of green onions.
- 4 or 5 hard boiled eggs.
- Olives, a cup and a half.
- Salt and pepper
- Spices: chili powder, paprika, cumin.
- Olive oil, two or three tablespoons.
- An egg yolk.
1) First we make the dough; shape a little mound with the flour on a flat working surface, with a crater in the middle. Prepare a brine by boiling water with two tablespoons of salt and cool down a few minutes. In a deep skillet melt the fat, let cool a bit but not solidify. Pour into the hollow of the grease and flour a few tablespoons of brine. Mix quickly, add more brine if necessary, until all the flour join. Work to cool. Mass is quite hard, you have to work to earn elasticity.
- Roll out with rolling pin until very thin, cutting discs with a 6 inch in diameter bowl or other tool.
2) Now we turn to the stuffing:
- Cut the meat into small cubes with a knife cutting out the fat as much as possible (ask your butcher ro save some work).
- Chop the onion, the heads of the scallions, and garlic; cut the stalks of green onions into juliennes
- Fry in a skillet large onion, garlic and white part of the green onions in oil until translucent.
- Put in a small bowl teaspoons paprika, red pepper half and two tablespoons of cumin (essential). Add three tablespoons of cold water, mix into a paste.
- Add the spice paste to the onion, mix well and let it evaporate a little liquid.
- Add meat, cook stirring occasionally. Remove when meat is cooked but not dry.
- Taste and correct seasonings. You better about missing a little seasoning.
- Let cool for at least two hours in the refrigerator.
- Fill the discs of pie with a tablespoon firmly packed filler, an olive, an eighth of an egg. Putting enough filling: Fill a pie with some dried. Seal the edges well and make a repulgue.
- If the pies are baked, painted with egg yolk and place in a greased plate in oven. Golden brown remove them.
- If you are going to fry, do it in batches in hot fat in a deep pan. It should be eaten piping hot, with red wine.
- 18 empanada shells, creole type.
- Or, if you knead the dough 750 gr. of flour, a cup of beef fat, salt, boiling water.
- 3 lb. meat: your favorite tender beef cut
- 2 onions.
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 handful of green onions.
- 4 or 5 hard boiled eggs.
- Olives, a cup and a half.
- Salt and pepper
- Spices: chili powder, paprika, cumin.
- Olive oil, two or three tablespoons.
- An egg yolk.
1) First we make the dough; shape a little mound with the flour on a flat working surface, with a crater in the middle. Prepare a brine by boiling water with two tablespoons of salt and cool down a few minutes. In a deep skillet melt the fat, let cool a bit but not solidify. Pour into the hollow of the grease and flour a few tablespoons of brine. Mix quickly, add more brine if necessary, until all the flour join. Work to cool. Mass is quite hard, you have to work to earn elasticity.
- Roll out with rolling pin until very thin, cutting discs with a 6 inch in diameter bowl or other tool.
2) Now we turn to the stuffing:
- Cut the meat into small cubes with a knife cutting out the fat as much as possible (ask your butcher ro save some work).
- Chop the onion, the heads of the scallions, and garlic; cut the stalks of green onions into juliennes
- Fry in a skillet large onion, garlic and white part of the green onions in oil until translucent.
- Put in a small bowl teaspoons paprika, red pepper half and two tablespoons of cumin (essential). Add three tablespoons of cold water, mix into a paste.
- Add the spice paste to the onion, mix well and let it evaporate a little liquid.
- Add meat, cook stirring occasionally. Remove when meat is cooked but not dry.
- Taste and correct seasonings. You better about missing a little seasoning.
- Let cool for at least two hours in the refrigerator.
- Fill the discs of pie with a tablespoon firmly packed filler, an olive, an eighth of an egg. Putting enough filling: Fill a pie with some dried. Seal the edges well and make a repulgue.
- If the pies are baked, painted with egg yolk and place in a greased plate in oven. Golden brown remove them.
- If you are going to fry, do it in batches in hot fat in a deep pan. It should be eaten piping hot, with red wine.