Mexican empanada's
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Cook time: 
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Makes: 20 portions
 
Ingredients
Pastry
  • 500 gr plain white flour
  • 200 gr butter
  • 1 egg
  • 160 gr cold water
  • 5 gr salt
Filling
  • 200 gr minced beef
  • 300 gr celery
  • 300 gr carrot
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 tbspn ground cumin
  • 1 tbspn ground coriander
  • 1 tbspn oregano
  • 1 tspn paprika powder
  • 2 tbspn tomato paste
  • 4 tbspn tomato passata
  • 150 gr sweet corn
  • 1 tbspn sweet chilli sauce
Finish
  • 1 egg
Instructions
Pastry
  1. Crumble the flour and butter together. Mix in the egg, salt and the cold water.
  2. Bring together into a smooth dough, cling film this and keep in the fridge until cold and firm enough to handle (about half an hour or longer if you have the time).
Filling
  1. Stir-fry the beef mince.
  2. Dice onion, leek and garlic and add to the mince. Stir fry until almost cooked
  3. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, paprika powder to the pan and stir fry for a minute to release its flavours.
  4. Finely dice bell pepper, carrot and celery and cook with the mince.
  5. Add the oregano, tomato paste and tomato passata to the pan and mix to combine. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked.
  6. Stir in the sweet chilli sauce and the sweet corn and season to taste. Let the filling cool before you assemble the empanada’s.
Finish
  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry until as thick as a pound coin. Using the empanada mould, cut out the discs.
  3. Place a disc in the mould (floured side down), moisten the edge with a little bit of cold water and place a tablespoon of filling in the centre.
  4. Close the mould and press down to seal the edges.
  5. Open the mould, remove the empanada and place on the baking tray.
  6. Egg wash the empanada’s and bake at 180 °C for 30 min or until golden brown and fully cooked. Serve straight away or refrigerate or freeze for later use.
Stuff to know
Finely dice the vegetables for the filling to make filling the empanada’s easier.
If the filling is to moist, drain off excess moisture in a colander.
A cold filling will keep the dough from warming up when making the empanada’s and becoming too soft to work with
It is perfectly possible to freeze the empanada’s. Reheat to piping hot before serving.
Leave the mince out for the vegetarian version.
Add diced chorizo and/or chopped chillies for a more spicy version.
Recipe by Jeroen Valkenier Recipes at https://jpvalkenier.com/mexican-empanadas/