photo showing closeup of cooked empanada with avocado salsa and pumpkin seeds

Empanadas

“Empanadas” are an icon, from the South of Europe to Latin America and South America, Philippines and other places in the world. They exist in many different shapes and all kinds of fillings. You can pretty much bake or deep fry an empanada with anything inside which makes it a very versatile preparation. Although it requires some manufacture and it’s not a fast thing to do, it’s absolutely worth it.

“Empanar” in Spanish means to wrap in bread, folding a dough around the stuffing of your preference. Please feel invited to create your own version, you probably don’t even need to do shopping, the products in your fridge and any flour will make it ? Despite your version, here are some advices for a better experience!

 

Our advice:

  • When assembling empanadas your ingredients must be cold, otherwise the dough will get sticky and hard to handle
  • It’s easy to split it into 2 days:
    • First day you cook everything, make the dough and prepare the discs, let everything cool down to room temperature and only then save to the fridge. When you save warm things in your fridge they increase the Tº inside this one and your food lasts shorter. Keep it cool!
    • Second day you only assemble the empanadas and bake, they will be baked in full power, from 10 to 15 mins, you’ll need to have a look and take them out when they look perfectly tan
  • Save the discs of dough on a cutting board, sprinkle some flour between them and cover with Beeskin, we love the bags for these purposes!
  • When you use different kinds of fillings, you can fold different shapes or use different seeds on top to recognize them later, kids love this creative part ?

Ingredients

Filling:

½ cup of oil
1 Kg Onion in small pieces
300 gr Shredded Carrot
2 teaspoons Sweet Paprika powder
1 teaspoon Cumin
2 teaspoons Oregano
Salt
1 Kg Tofu, Soya protein, Seitan, any of your preference

*You can fill empanadas with the ingredients that you prefer, just make sure, they are cooked and cold when you assemble your empanadas

Dough:

1 Kg flour
1 teaspoon of salt
100 cc White Wine
380 cc boiling water
130 gr melted fat
2 teaspoons of the Flax seed water* or Silken tofu or Aquafaba or Tapioca starch or Chickpea flour

Preparation:

Filling:

Remember in this case any sort of goulash, stew, veggies and dry fruits work perfectly.
As a reference we cooked the onions and carrot with all the spices for 30 mins with low heat, adding water from time to time just enough to keep it wet and get all the taste, later we add the protein  and let stay for another 30 mins, mix from time to time.

Dough:

Add all the dry ingredients, mix them and pour the warm water and warm melted fat, you can add 2 spoons of Flax seed water or any other option and mix, in 5 mins you should have without a very tender dough without any stress. 

Separate the dough in balls (With 1 Kg of flour you should get more than 15 empanadas) Roll discs with a diameter around 20 centimeters.

Keep the dough covered in breathable conditions, on a plate or cutting board, beeskin bags do the best here!

Let cool down and save in the fridge for the next day.

Preparation:

Assemble your empanadas and fold them in the shapes that you like the most, this dough is very gentle, just sprinkle some flour on the table and wet the corners when you close them, it seals the dough perfectly and it stays juicy with all the taste. 

After you close them brush them on top with Flaxseed water*: 1 part of Linseed or flaxseed and/or chia seeds mixed with 3 parts of water, keep in your fridge for 15 mins to let it thicken, it will help you to stick the seeds and get a better crust and color outside.

Bake with full power and after 8 minutes start paying attention to them, the color will tell you when is the moment to take them out

Enjoy!

Serve your empanadas with your favorite dip. How about a a homemade guacamole?

If you can't finish your empanadas - we know: unlikely! ;) - we recommend storing them in your beeskin bag. 

Enjoy!