Making Homemade Empanadas

If you love empanadas then there’s no reason why you can’t make your own right at home, since anyone can make them easily enough. With just a few ingredients or more, depending on what you want in your empanadas, you can assemble the dough in almost no time.

The first thing you need to do is fill it out. My favorite is definitely ground beef, but you can make them with ground beef, chicken or even ham and cheese. I will tell you how to make my ground beef recipe and then you can change your ingredients to make your own variety.

Start with about a pound of ground beef and monkfish, it can be round or even sirloin, whatever you prefer. While the beef is in the pot, add the chopped beef to a medium onion, preferably a sweet one such as Vidalia, and a clove of garlic. I always have a bottle of chopped garlic in my fridge since it’s easier and less time consuming, but you can always make it fresh if you prefer. Once your beef is all browned and broken down, and the onions are tender, drain off all excess fat and liquid and return. the pan to a low heat.

Now it’s time to add some more flavor, and I’d like to make something spicy, like chopped jalapenos, green olives, peppers and all, and sprinkled with cumin, paprika and white pepper. This completes my filling, you can change any and make your own variety by using black olives, green peppers, purple onions, chopped raisins, a lime wedge of wheat, diced tomatoes and seasonings such as oregano, basil, celery, crushed Red pepper and/or black pepper. Use whatever variety you like. If you look at your salt intake intake, you can see what I mentioned above because I almost never add salt to anything I cook, ever you can omit the seasonings and use a substitute such as Mrs. Dash or something similar. You can use the same variety of drugs if you are preparing ground chicken or beef. If you want to have ham and cheese empanadas then what I do is chop some ham* (I prefer Virginia ham) and heat it in a kettle or throw it in a bowl and heat it for a bit in the microwave and then add the cheese when you’re done. empanadas together

The next step is that it couldn’t be easier to make the dough. In a large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Then I use the cut in 1/3 cup shortening (use Crisco) a little at a time, until the mixture looks like coarse flour. Then you press the mixture into the flour with a fork in half a cup of water and push the moistened flour to the side of the bowl until the whole mass is moist. You can add additional water by the tablespoon if needed. Divide the dough according to how many empanadas you plan to make and how big they are. You can make them as small as 4″ round taste size or larger say 6″ size. Place the dough one at a time on lightly floured wax paper and roll into a circle. Place some of your filling in the center of the dough and over the fold, sealing the edges by pressing down with the tip of a fork until the open side is sealed. it is. Do this for each empanada and place them on the lined baking sheet. To give them a nice brown top, beat the egg yolk and a tablespoon of milk, and brush it on the top of each empanada. The rest is to bake in the oven for about fifteen minutes at 300 degrees until golden brown. If you are making ham and cheese empanadas, place the chopped ham in the middle of your dough and top it with shredded cheddar cheese and if you like, sprinkle it with a dash or not and finish as above.

I make a big serving of ground beef recipe with hot spicy sauce either salty or red or green variety. If you’re making chicken with cumin as a spice, it’s good to salt it too. Add some Tabasco sauce to your liking. I do green Tabasco with the chicken. These are all just basic suggestions, but you can do them pretty much any way you like.