A couple days ago, I was able to make traditional Chilean empanadas with some friends I met through our host. Even though I don’t really enjoy cooking, it was fun to be part of the process from start to finish. I included a general recipe and instructions below, but Chileans aren’t very precise on measurements, timing or details, so follow at your discretion.
Ingredients:
Dough
-1 cup of flour
-1 stick of pig lard (melted, hot, can be substituted with butter)
-1 tablespoon of salt
-warm water
Meat
-2 cups of ground beef (cooked, can be substituted with chicken, tuna)
-onion (diced)
-salt, pepper, chili powder, seasoning (to flavor)
Extras
-hard-boiled eggs (thin slices)
-black olives (whole)
-golden raisins
-1 whipped egg
Steps:
- Dump flour out in a volcano shape, with a large space in the middle.
- Pour the pig lard and salt in the center of the volcano and stir with spoon.
3. Knead the dough manually into a hot dog shape, adding water as needed.
4. Cut pieces of the dough and form them into balls.
5. Sprinkle flour on counter. Use rolling pin to flatten the balls into thin tortillas.
6. Fill tortilla with a spoonful of meat, a slice of hard-boiled egg, a black olive, and a raisin.
7. Dip fingers in water and swipe them across bottom half of tortilla. Fold tortilla over and press down with fingers to seal. Fold dough over multiple times for design.
8. Sprinkle flour and place empanadas on pan. Dip brush in egg mix and paint them.
9. Place in oven at 300°F and cook for 20-25 minutes or until brown. Eat up!
A group of us ate the empanadas for lunch. They were pretty good, but beware of the olive pits. Not sure why they insert them whole. According to my host, I am now officially able to get married. Ask me how I feel about that comment. Actually, don’t. You may receive a beating to the face.
We made about 50 empanadas, but the amounts here are adjusted for much less. There are plenty of other ingredients you can use for the filling. This is a just basic recipe. To truly maintain tradition, accompany the empanadas with red wine. ¡Buen provecho!
