Argentine or creole empanadas

How to make Argentine empanadas . As a good Galician, a lot of my family is Argentine, between Córdoba and Buenos Aires .

Several friends are also Argentines and from one of them comes my fondness for these small meatloaf doughs. Friend Mauri, who prepares them from vice, hence this recipe for Argentine dough or empanadas.

The most important thing in Argentine empanadas is the filling and the type of empanada dough used. From the dough I have already explained all the secrets so that it comes out like a true Argentine. In terms of fillings, you should always fill with meat cut with a knife. This will make the pie juicy, no minced meat, which I know you.

There are many types of empanadas depending on the area of ​​Argentina in which they are made, they are not the same if they are from Córdoba than those from Misiones. That yes, the best ones for me are those of the center of Argentina, of that area (province of Tucumán or Catamarca) they were introduced to the rest of the provinces.

In the blog you can find how to make these tucuman empanadas that are impressive. All of them usually have a knife, hard-boiled eggs, olives, bell peppers, potatoes in some cases and different degrees of spiciness depending on the province.

But what I am sure of (and I have eaten many) is that the mojo is the best of the empanadilla, that touch of cumin and chili distinguishes them from any empanada from another place in the world. Do you dare to prepare them at home?

Preparation of the filling of the Argentine empanadas

1. We cut the loin by knife into equal small strips. Crush the ground chili, paprika, cumin and a tablespoon of white wine in a mortar.
2. We marinate the pieces of meat with the previous pasta and season to taste with a little pepper and salt.
3. Step 1-2 should be done the day before and leave the meat covered tightly in the fridge overnight.
4. Fry in a saucepan with olive oil (2 tablespoons) and reserve the meat with its juice. This process is only to scare the meat, that is, to spend it very little.
5. Chop the onions, the chives (in the absence of the Verdeo onion), the chives (the sum of the 2 should be twice the amount of meat) and the bell pepper.
6. Add more oil and sauté the onion and bell pepper over very low heat, which softens but does not brown. We add white wine after 10 minutes (a Ribeiro would do well). The whole process takes about 20 minutes.
7. When the sofrito softens, add the meat and its broth.
8. We rectify salt and pepper and reduce it but leave it with broth so that the pie is juicy.
9. This process is 5 minutes. We introduce the chopped hard-boiled egg and the very chopped olives.
10. We mix all the filling and let it cool to make the empanadas.

Preparation of the Argentine empanada

1. We flour the kitchen counter and roll out the dough with the rolling pin until it is 5 mm thick.
2. We cut the dumplings with a cup (I use one of the breakfast cups) of about 15 cm. diameter.
3. We add the filling to each empanada, 1 tablespoon of filling in each one. It is very important that the filling is cold so that the dough holds up well when frying.
4. We paint the edge of the empanada with the help of a cooking brush and beaten egg.
5. We cover with the other half well stretched and seal it by the edges, braiding the bottom over the top with the help of a fork.
6. We fry in abundant soft extra virgin olive oil. The oil has to be very hot.
7. We remove the empanadas when they are golden. We put them on a plate with absorbent paper and ready to eat. Be careful, don’t burn us.

I encourage you to try to do it, they are great. You can see all the photos of the step by step of this Argentine empanadas in this album.

Tips for some tasty Argentine empanadas

• Argentine empanadas can be of different size and mass. It is not the same for frying as for roasting, even the filling depending on whether it is fried or oven varies.
• In Spain, for the subject of Argentine empanada dough, the difficulty is to find butter or fat, but I have successfully replaced it with butter and the flavor is quite similar.
• Regarding the filling, the meat I buy is not Argentine, not because it is not there but because of its price, so a good piece of loin meat is also very good.
• Another ingredient that is not the same as there is green onion (replaced by chives) and Argentine peas (replaced by fine canned peas). I leave you with a recipe for the classic empanada de Buenos Aires or empanada porteña, very good.
• My friend Fátima Jofre prepares them in the following way, another way to learn how to make them, goes with the recipe of the dough too (the variety is the taste). We put the flour in the form of a crown with the cow fat on the table.
• For half a kilo of flour a tablespoon and prepare them with 1/4 liter of water that is a little more than lukewarm. We add salt to taste, but it is a little salty salty. We add to the hollow of the flour everything little by little, we are uniting the fat to the flour and the water.
• Knead until you have a dough that does not stick to your hands or is hard. We make a bun and let it rest for half an hour. We stretch it finite but it does not break and cut into discs the size you like best. We put the fillings, we join the edges (moistened with a little water so that they stick), we put them to fry or to the oven. Bon Appetite.

Recommendations from Argentine friends

• Ester Liliana Ferreyra tells me that the Creole pie varies in each region. Further north is cut meat with a knife, in others, machine-ground meat. The original is fried in cow fat. There are two kinds of empanadas, the sweet one has raisins, potatoes and carrots, cut very small and with a teaspoon of sugar. The salty ones have green onions, green olives and hard-boiled eggs. Both seasoned with salt and cumin. They are fried in fat, oil or baked.
• Marcela Ordonez : “They are the same as the Chilean empanadas. Really delicious! And  Patricia Led exalts the Salteñas empanadas, for her the best in Argentina. ”
• José Luis López Lesace “Of course, make sure they are well glued, closed, because depending on liquid sauces, they can jump when fried! In addition, they can be filled in a thousand ways, it is a matter of giving you imagination: Tuna, boiled eggs, vegetables, meat, fish … ”
• Mirta Elisabed Saucedo clarifies that Verdeo onion is the same as chives. The Verdeo onion is smaller and with long, lanceolate, hollow leaves, that those leaves are also used. The onion is small, some are violet, they are also white, it is a stronger flavor than the common onion.
• Marisel Di Romano : “The best, the empanadas tucumanas province in which the national feast of the empanada is celebrated more precisely in the city of Famailla.”