Veggies Empanadas

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone! I am happy since I’ve got the chance to share with you my Empanada recipe. I know this is not new to you dear cooks and readers but spare me of your time and let me share you my style of cooking .

Empanadas are crescent-shaped and are cooked with varieties of filling. I can see this commonly sold in bakeries in our place and can be bought affordable. I miss my schooldays when my mother usually brought us some of these empanadas at home for snacks… and I just can't imagine that I am cooking this now at home!! Hmmmm.. I love it!!! Instead of buying some, why not use my utensils and enjoy my weekends with a treat in the kitchen! There are two ways how it is cooked either fried or baked but I’d rather choose cooking it through the oven-- which I like and enjoyed eating too compared from fried empanadas. Besides this is one good thing to avoid oily foods which is definitely unhealthy for us.

I love cooking this recipe with more vegetable filling than preparing the one which is meaty so for those vegetarian out there, you might ‘gonna love this one too (as what I did). I added just enough amount of chicken with the vegetables to fill the dough to get a tastier filling. My dough recipe here is the same on what I’ve made from my Big Tummy Pastry click link for the recipe so this is not ‘kinda new to me… only that I am not really good in molding pastries the reason why I had a hard time covering and sealing the dough. Nevertheless, still I’ve made this recipe complete with so much effort on that part!

 

Here you go! Fresh from the oven empanadas! whoahhhh! Funny how this looks like right?! I said I'm not good in molding, but the shape doesn't affect the taste either.. Not bad!

To achieve golden brown finish you can brush the filled dough with egg wash - beaten egg whites with a tablespoon of water or milk added on it before baking.

Check this out!

Ingredients:

Filling

• 1/2 cup chicken, boiled and shredded
• 3/4 cup potato, diced
• 3/4 cup carrot, diced
• 3 tbspn raisins
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

Dough

• 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter, cold, diced
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp water, cold
• 1 small egg

Procedure for Empanada:

For the Filing

1. Heat pan with cooking oil then sauté onions then add the garlic.
2. Mix-in the chicken and stir for about 3 minutes or color turns light brown.
3. Add the carrots and potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add sugar then simmer for another 5 minutes.
5. Sprinkle raisins, salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 minute then turn off heat. Set aside.

For the Dough

1. Separate the egg white from the yolk. Set aside.
2. Combine together 1 and 1/2 cup of flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Place flour mixture and butter in a bowl of your electric mixer (the butter should be cold and solid). Gradually add cold water and mix all the ingredients until it forms a dough. (You can also use your hands for this, just be sure to combine thoroughly all of the ingredients).

 

4. Add or sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of flour little by little if the dough is still sticky; or add a little cold water if it’s still dry. Knead until you get a smooth and elastic dough.
 

 

5. Take small amount of dough and form each into balls. Place in a baking tray or flat-surfaced container and set aside in a cool place for about 15mins. Repeat procedure until you finish consuming everything of the dough mixture.

 

6. Take a rolling pin or anything available in your kitchen and flatten each ball to form a circle (enough to cover 1 tablespoon of filling). Place filling in the center of the flattened dough, fold to meet both ends (this will look like crescent-shaped dough) then press the edges to seal (you can also use fork to seal the edges). Place in a baking sheet or in a flat surfaced container until you finish filling all the dough.

7. Take the egg white (Procedure #1). Mix-in 1 tablespoon of water then beat lightly. Arrange sealed dough in a lightly greased baking sheet (about 2 inches apart) and brush each of the dough with egg white mixture.

 

8. Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Bake the sealed doughs for 25-30 minutes and bake at the same temperature or until crust turns golden brown in color.

9. Share and Enjoy!

Makes 8-10 servings, depending on size