Empanada

One of the special delicacies I love to eat when I visit Ilocos is empanada.  It is a popular bread dish in most Latin countries like Spain and Portugal but the Filipino version is something very close to our taste.  You can do it in pork, chicken and even in beef.  It is a good way to make use of your leftover meat.

Ingredients:

for the Empanada dough

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

half a cup of water

1 egg

1 egg white

1 teaspon of vinegar

3 tablespoons of shortening

Preparation:

Start by preparing your empanada dough.  In a bowl beat water, egg, egg white and vinegar together.  Set this aside.  In another bowl,  mix together the flour and the salt.  Put the shortening into the flour mix using a pastry blender to be sure they are evenly mix. Put a well in the middle and pour the liquid ingredients from the first bowl into the center. Mix them altogether until it becomes stiff and they don’t stick to your fingers anymore. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it just until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth.  Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but never more than 24 hours.

Empanada Filling

half a medium size onion chopped

1 garlic clove minced

half a teaspoon of cumin powder

half a teaspoon of dried oregano

half a kilo of ground beef (you can also eat cooked chicken meat shredded or cooked pork meat chopped)

one small can of tomato sauce

one tablespoon of dried raisins

1 tablespoon of pimiento chopped

some cooking oil

salt and pepper

Cooking the Empanada filling:

In a casserole warm up your oil.  Sauté the garlic and onion.  Add your meat, put the spices, salt, pepper, cumin and oregano.  Add your tomato sauce , riasins and pimiento.  Let it simmer.

Making the Empanada:

Once the empanada dough is ready, flatten them and make circles using any rounded tool you have at home.  Put your desired filling in the middle.  Close it and crimp the sides using a fork.  Fry them on deep casserole with hot oil for three to four minutes or until they are golden brown.