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image of taco quesadilla empanadas made at the cookery school
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Empanadas

You can use shop bought pastry, frozen empanada discs or puff or shortcrust pastry
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 10 Portions

Ingredients

For the Pastry Dough

  • 500 g Plain flour
  • 250 ml Water lukewarm
  • 50 g Lard or vegan replacement such as Trex
  • 2 tsp Sea salt
  • 1 Egg white to glaze

For the Filling

  • 120 g Chorizo
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Vegetable oil to cook
  • 1/2 Onion finely chopped
  • 1 clove Garlic minced
  • 300 g Beef mince
  • 10 g Tomato purée 2 tsp
  • 2 g Fresh thyme 1 tsp, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp Dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1/2 tsp Paprika powder
  • 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Sea salt
  • 180 ml Chicken stock
  • 125 g Chopped tomatoes
  • 1 Spring onion finely sliced

Method

For the Pastry Dough

  • Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead for about 5 minutes, then cover and refrigerate for an hour. Take out at least 10 mins before needed.

For the Filling:

  • Small dice the chorizo and set aside
  • Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes.
  • Add the chorizo and cook for 2 minutes. Add the beef and cook until you no longer see raw beef. Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Then add everything else except spring onion, then stir.
  • Stir through green onion. Transfer to bowl and fully cool before using , about 2 hours.

Construct your Empanadas

  • Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan).
  • You want round pieces of pastry, so roll pastry until thin, then use a saucer to cut circles.
  • The filling should be cold but spreadable. Place the filling on the top half of a round of pastry. Spread flat in a half-moon shape, leaving a 1-1.5cm edge
  • Brush the edges with egg white, fold to enclose, pressing out air and sealing the edge. Optional: Do empanada pleats or crimp with fork.
  • Place empanadas on 2 baking trays. Brush the outside with egg yolk. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown all over and crispy on the base.
  • Serve hot with salsa of your choice or sour cream.

Size of Empanadas

  • Empanadas come in all sorts of sizes, for authentic Mexican, go big or go home! But feel free to make smaller ones, the cooking time is the same.