Empanadas

Empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried, mostly known as a traditional dish in Latin America and Spain. The first mention of them was in a cookbook published in Spain in 1520, and then they were mostly stuffed with seafood. Even though it has origins in Spain, it has a long history in the Phillipines too where they even organize an annual Empanada festival.

My first encounter with empanadas was in Spain a few years back. I travelled to Spain with friends, and spent most of my time in Barcelona. There was a small food truck where they had empanadas and I had to try them. I fell in love at first bite, and upon my return back to Zagreb I was longing for that familiar taste. The problem was that to this day there aren’t as many Mexican or Latin American restaurants here in Zagreb and the ones that were didn’t have empanadas on their menu. That’s when I decided to make ones myself!

There are a lot of versions of this dish and this is just one of them. This summer I had the opportunity to make these for my friends at the seaside and they loved them, especially with a tasty dip like salsa dip or sour cream dip. Try the recipe out and give me some feedback!

Island Vir, Croatia

Island Vir, Croatia

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Enjoy & happy cooking!

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Preparation: 25 min

Cook time: 45 min

Servings: 4

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Ingredients

Dough:

• 500 g soft flour
• 125 g butter
• 1,5 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• water

Stuffing:

• 500 g ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 200 g crushed tomatoes
• 150 g red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp chili pepper
• 1 tsp red paprika
• 100 g tomato sauce
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• vegetable oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

How to

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and mix the ingredients until combined. Gradually pour about 200 ml water in the bowl and mix the dough until it combines with the other ingredients.
2. Divide the dough in 16 smaller balls of dough, cover them in aluminum foil and place in the fridge for  at least 30 to 45 minutes.
3. Sprinkle some vegetable oil and heat it in a large sauce pan. Add chopped onion to the oil and let it simmer for about 5 min until soft. Cook ground beef in the sauce pan for about 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and season with chili pepper, red paprika, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Let the mixture cook until you get a thick stuffing.
4. Preheat the oven to 190° C.
5. Roll the dough on a floured surface. Divide the stuffing in 16 portions and place each portion on the center of a rolled out dough. Fold the dough over and using a fork close off the ends so you get empanadas. Beat 1 egg in a small bowl. Place empanadas on a parchment paper covered baking tray and coat them with the egg.
6. Bake the empanadas in a preheated oven for about 20 min until golden and crispy.