Every Province, every town and I dare to say, every family in Argentina, has their own and favourite empanadas recipe. They are all different and all delicious. The recipe I’m sharing is an adaptation of my mom’s recipe. I say ‘an adaption’ because, honestly, no one makes Argentine empanadas like my mom 😊. Those are the best!
Recipe
How much time do you need?
· Preparation time: 2-3 hours
· Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
· Total time: 3-4 hours
Material:
· Mixing bowls
· Rolling pin
· Sauce pans
· Chopping board
· Baking tray
· Baking paper
Ingredients: Make aprox. 2-3 dozen
Dough:
· 500 grs plain flour
· 120 grs unsalted butter at room temperature
· 10 grs fine salt
· 250 ml water
Filling:
· 50 ml olive oil
· 500 grs beef mince with some fat content, not too lean
· 500 grs finely sliced brown onion
· 4 boiled eggs
· 2 juicy tomatoes (or half a can of tomato sauce)
· 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
· ½ finely chopped green capsicum
· ½ finely chopped red capsicum
· Optional: 10-15 chopped green olives
Seasoning:
· 20 grs salt
· 1 tbsp paprika
· 1 tbsp ground cumin
· 1 tbsp white sugar
· 1tsp oregano
· 1 tsp thyme
· 1 tsp ground black pepper
Method:
Make the dough:
Mix water, butter and salt in a big mixing bowl. Add flour and knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough comes together. The dough should look smooth and elastic. Wrap in a plastic bag and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Make the filling:
Get ready! Prepare the veggies, reserve for later:
Finely slice the brown onions.
Finely dice the capsicums.
Finely chop the garlic cloves.
Dice the tomatoes and process in a blender till you get tomato purée. Alternatively, you can use half a can of tomato purée.
Boil 4 eggs for 8-10 minutes, peel and reserve.
Pit 10-15 green olives and chop in quarters. Reserve. This is optional. Sometimes I don’t add olives to the empanadas.
Start cooking the filling:
Put a big sauce pan with the olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Don’t go too far with the caramelization as we want the onions to retain some water which will make the filling juicier. Add the garlic and capsicums. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the beef mince and tomato sauce. Decrease heat to low. Mix together and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add ¼ cup of water if it’s too dry. Add the seasoning (except black pepper) and mix well. Cover with a lid and cook in low heat for 30-40 minutes. Check it every 10 minutes so it does not burn. If it’s too dry you can add more liquid by adding just water, or more tomato sauce, or even some red wine! Don’t add more than half a cup of liquid at each time. The veggies should release quite a lot of water already.
Taste the filling and adjust salt if needed. Add the black pepper, mix, remove from heat and let it rest with the lid on for a couple of hours. Once it has cool down, add the eggs cut into small pieces, gently mix to incorporate and transfer to a container, cover with a lid and place it in the fridge for at least 2 hours (overnight is better!)
Tip: I recommend making the filling the day before. Letting it rest overnight in the fridge will enhance the flavours.
Assembling:
Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest at least 30 minutes. Lightly sprinkle a surface with flour and roll the dough using a rolling pin until it’s 1.5-2 ml thick. Cut the empanada discs by using a big round cutter of approx. 12cm diameter.
Tip: Don’t have a round pasta/cookie cutter? Use a small pan lid or a small plate, and cut with a sharp knife.
Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the disc dough. Are you adding olives? Add a quarter on one side of the filling. Lightly brush some water in the border of half a disc and seal the empanada by gently pressing the borders, remove any trapped air as you go and crimp the edges.
Make the classic crimp or use any crimp you like.
Tip: It’s better to assemble the empanadas with the filling chilled from the fridge. If the filling is hot, or if it’s at room temperature in a warm summer day, the dough discs will lose their shape very easily due to their high butter content.
An easy crimp for empanadas is made by pressing the borders with a fork (see pictures below)
Cooking:
Pre-heat oven with grill function to 240 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Make sure the baking paper has the same size of the baking tray, or a bit smaller, as the edges may burn up with the heat of the grill. Put 8-10 empanadas per tray.
Place they tray in upper shelf # 4 or 5, close to the grill. Grill for 3-5 minutes. Flip them over and grill for 3-5 minutes on the other side. Remove from the oven and let them cool down for at least 10 minutes.
Tip: Grilling is a great cooking method for empanadas as it will give them very nice charred spots but you need to keep an eye on it. Don’t relax too much with that glass of red wine or you risk burning the dinner!
Serve them warm or cold.
Tip: You can store them in the fridge for a couple of days, or freeze them raw for several months. If frozen, cook them in a hot grill for 10-15 minutes (directly from the fridge, do not thaw)
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