Empanadas made from scratch, yes, even the shells

I noticed how incredibly hard it is to find empanada shells in Manhattan, so I decided to take things into my own hands, and make the shells myself. The pictures on this blogpost belong to empanadas made with whole weat flour, that is why they look dark, normally they are made with white flour, up to you!

And if you want to try them but dont dare make the shells I know a lady who makes them (for a decent fee), email me and I will put you in touch.

Enjoy.

SHELL INGREDIENTS

1 pack of flour (whole weat, white, whatever you prefer, white does indeed work better)

half a pack of butter, or 125 grams)

pintch of salt

1 cup or a little more of warm water

one egg

SHELL PREPARATION

Make a circle with the flour and put the egg in the middle. Melt the butter until is liquid and put it in the middle too. Then with your hands (be careful it may be hot!) start pushing the batter until it begins to form little grums, then add warm water little by little until it forms an homogeneous mix.

Let it rest in a plate for about 20 minutes

After 20 minutes the mix will expand. That is good.

Begin grabing little pieces of it, make a circle and then use the rolling pin to stretch it thin, to about 2 milimiters.

TIP: when you stretch it, think four directions, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. That way you will expand it a rectangular sort and it will give you more opportunities to draw more shells out of it.

I use a little more flour and spread it on the table to make the spreading of the batter easier.

Then with a circle cookie cutter begin cutting them in circles. I stack them up using waxed paper in between them so they dont get glued to each other

FILLING INGREDIENTS & PREPARATION

1 onion

1 red pepper

soy protein mix (or grounded meat if you eat meat)

3 table spoons of raisins

the grains of 3 corns

Saute the onions and peppers in oil or in butter. Make sure to cut them very small.

Add the soy protein, the raisins and the corn.

Let it warm up, it does not need to cook for very long, 10 minutes at low fire will do.

MAKING THE EMPANADAS

Put a little (a spoonfull) in the middle of each round shell, then use the yellow of an egg, dip your fingers on it, and pass it around the bottom half of the empanada, then flip the top part and glue it in by pressing gently. Make sure they are very glued, otherwise they will open in the oven.

I paint the top of them with the yellow of the egg too for shine effect.

Put in the oven at 350 for about half an hour. Let cool and enjoy.