Empanadas are fried or baked turnover stuffed pastries, much reminiscent of a calzone. Hailing from Portugal, they are common in Latin American countries, Spain, Indonesia, Philippines and USA. The popular street snack sees a lot of variations in both pastry and the stuffing.
What is the difference between Empanadas and Calzones?
A Calzone is essentially a turned over pizza, made with the same dough and stuffing. Empanadas reek of variety. Since the dish is spread over so many cultures, the techniques are much more diverse. From a short pastry to puff pastry, the possibilities here are endless. You can bake or fry it, use an egg wash, cold butter, or even spray cans for healthier options.
I made a very healthy version with whole-wheat and baked it off later on. You can use store-bought puff pastry sheets as well if you do not wish to make the dough.
Check out the easiest pizza dough for you to make calzones next.
Ingredients (15 empanadas of 5 inches each)
For the dough
- Wholewheat flour – 3 cups + more for dusting
- Chilled and cubed butter – 1/2 cup
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Baking powder – 1 tsp
- Coldwater – 3/4 cup
For the filling
- Kidney beans, soaked overnight – 1 cup
- Bell pepper, chopped – 1 cup
- Onion, chopped – 1, medium-sized
- Tomato, chopped – 1, medium-sized
- Pureed tomato – 1/2 cup
- Sweet corn – 1 cup
- Salt – to taste
- Sugar – 1 tsp
- Roasted cumin powder – 1/2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 1-1/2 tsp
- Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
- Tomato ketchup – 1 tbsp
- Chilli sauce – 1/2 tsp
- Cheddar cheese – 1/2 cup (optional)
- Mozzarella cheese – 1 cup
- Oil/ Cooking spray
Method
- In a food processor, blitz the flour, salt, baking powder and butter together. Slowly add the cold water until the dough comes together. Take it out of the food processor and knead into a round ball. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Pressure cook the kidney beans, add a pinch of salt and 4 cups of water. Cook for 2 whistles on high heat. Turn to medium heat, cook for another 10 minutes. Release the pressure on its own and drain.
- To prepare the filling, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add the chopped onion and cook until transparent. Add the bell pepper and cooked beans. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and sweet corn to the pan and mix.
- Season with salt, sugar, cumin powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well. Splash with 1/4 cup water and cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in the tomato puree, tomato ketchup and chilli sauce, mix well. Add 1/2 cup water, mix well, and cook for 5 minutes on high heat or until the filling comes all together. Add the cheddar cheese if using and mix well.
- Let the filling cool down before making the empanadas.
Making the empanadas
- Divide the down into 15 equal portions.
- Dust the pastry board and roll out a round-ish shape or you can roll it out and cut into a perfect round using a large cookie cutter.
- Heap 1 tablespoon of the filling and 1/2 tablespoon of cheese and add to one end of the rolled out dough, leaving a 3/4 inch border.
- Turn over the other half, and seal the ends. You can take the easy route and seal the ends using a fork as I did. Or check out some pretty pleating techniques here. I suggest poking the pie using a fork to let some steam off while baking.
- Pre-heat the oven at 200 degree Celsius for 10 minutes.
- Brush the baking tray well with cooking spray. Carefully place the pies on the tray, spray with cooking oil and bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees.
- Cool on a rack for 5 minutes before digging in!
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