Fried empanadas
Binging with Babish · ♥ 33.1K likes · 1M views · 6 min video
Read about ground beef in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 500 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Mix the all purpose flour and kosher salt.
- 225–275 g hot water
Add the hot water at about 180F and mix by hand for one minute until no dry flour remains.
Cover the bowl with a larger bowl or plastic wrap and rest 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature to hydrate.
Do not overwork it: kneading for about six minutes developed too much gluten and the dough refused to puff in the fryer.
Divide the rested dough into 16 even pieces and roll each into a round.
- onions
- neutral flavored oil
For the beef filling, saute the onions in neutral oil in a preheated saute pan three to five minutes over medium until softening and starting to caramelize.
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lb ground round
Add the crushed garlic for 30 seconds, then the ground round, browning until hardly any pink remains.
- 2 tsp annatto seeds
- paprika
Add the sifted ground annatto and paprika, season with salt and pepper as the beef finishes.
- salt
- pepper
- 2 whole boiled eggs
Kill the heat and stir in the two chopped boiled eggs.
For the chicken filling, butterfly the chicken thinly and put it in a saucepan of boiling water just off the heat; cover 18 minutes until up to temperature, then shred.
- chicken
- ½ whole onion
Saute half an onion until it colours, add the chopped red bell pepper and cook a few minutes more until both are soft.
- ½ whole red bell pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
Grate in three cloves of garlic and saute 30 seconds more.
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1½ tsp dried oregano
Add the tomato paste, cumin and oregano and toast 30 seconds to wake the flavours.
- paprika
- poaching water (optional)
Add the shredded chicken with a splash of poaching water and paprika, cook one to three minutes to let the flavours meld, season with salt and pepper.
- kosher salt
- black pepper
Place a couple of tablespoons of filling in the middle of a dough round, moisten half the outside edge with a wet finger and pinch tightly to seal.
Crimp with a fork, or use the traditional empanada crimp that folds up and twists over the previous fold.
- guava paste (optional)
- queso blanco (optional)
Variation: stack a slice of guava paste with queso blanco for a cheese and guava filling.
- fry oil
Fry at 400F for four to six minutes until lightly golden brown, puffed, with a glassy crisp exterior and a stretchy chewy interior.
Plate up and serve with salsa, sour cream or hot sauce.