Empanadas Argentinas
Hola!
Last night I got the urge to eat some traditional Argentine street food.
After some googling and basic research, I realized that not only can I make the stuffing but I can also make the actual tapas for the empanada shells. The only key ingredient that I couldn’t source from the local Whole Foods was the smoked paprika. Oh well. Plain paprika would suffice for now.
Here are the tapas rolled out. I don’t have a cookie cutter so I made balls about half the size of an egg from the dough and then rolled them out to about a 1/8th inch thickness.
My amazing assistant helped roll the tapas.
Here’s the stuffing that went into the tapas. I used one pound of ground beef, two tablespoons of raisins, one whole yellow onion, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp dried hot chile peppers, salt and pepper. I sauted the onions to translucency in a butter and corn oil mixture. Then I added the beef, raisins and spices. Once the beef browned, I added about a half a cup of water and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Then I refrigerated the mixture for an hour. You can also make this and refrigerate it overnight. Very, very simple.
Here I am stuffing the tapas with the beef mixture. Once the tapas were ready to be stuffed, I took the beef out of the fridge and then added to it: 2 chopped hard boiled eggs, 1/4 cup chopped scallions (green part only), and a 1/2 cup finely chopped green olives.
I wet the edges of the tapas and sealed them. Then I used a technique that Argentines call “repulgue” to fold over the edges atop each other. No fork required. Hands only.
Voila! Here’s the finished golden brown product. I baked them at 375 degrees F for about 18 minutes. Just until the tops started browning. I could have probably done them at 400F in 15 minutes or less too.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Oh yeah baby!!!!! I ate them plain. I ate them with Sriracha. I ate with Red Hot pepper sauce. Any way you ate them, they were plain DELICIOUS. I still have about six leftover (not for long). If you happen to be by Union Square today, give me a ring and maybe you’ll get an empanada.
Credits:
Googling “empanadas argentinas” led me to the following two websites:
Try2cook: Empanadas de Carne Argentinas and From Argentina with Love. Both served as excellent primers on making this traditional dish. And here’s the video coach I used to make the repulgue:
