Chicken Empanada
My favorite chicken empanada is the one from Red Ribbon. Yup, chicken empanada with extenders and all that 😛 I can always imagine eating that soft empanada crust with mashed chicken filling (sorry but I can’t seem to find chicken bits inside) or mashed potatoes with chicken seasoning 😛 Whatever, it’s still the best chicken empanada for me though.
Today, I decided to make my own chicken empanada as my way of being thankful that I’m no longer feeling under the weather. I was sick since Sunday evening and now that I’ve recovered, I’m back to business. By business I really meant cooking 😛
What I’ll show you aren’t the best looking empanadas because it’s my first time to make them and I have no experience whatsoever on crust-making. However, what I can guarantee you is that they really taste good.
Ingredients:
Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 3 T brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted light butter
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
- 7 T iced water
In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together, i.e., flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix using a fork. Cut in the cold butter and shortening until the mixtures is like butter-covered breadcrumbs. Slowly add in the iced water as you mix by hand. Form the dough into a ball and place inside a plastic bag or Ziploc. Don’t forget to dust your plastic with loose flour. Store the dough inside the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Filling
- 1 T light canola oil
- 1 T unsalted light butter
- 1/2 medium onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium potato, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 1/2 cup green peas, thawed
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 T brown sugar
- salt to taste
- 450 grams chicken breast fillets, cut into cubes
In a pan, heat up oil and butter then saute the onions and garlic. Next add the chicken and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Drop in your potatoes and carrots and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Pour in your chicken broth and follow through by dunking in your green peas and raisins. Simmer for another 3 minutes. Add pepper and salt to taste. If you like your filling a little sweet, add in sugar. Cook for another 2 minutes and you’re done.
Strain the sauce from the filling as you set it aside to cool.
Assembling and cooking the empanadas
Preheat the oven to 400F or 200C.
Prepare a mixture of 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water. We’ll use this to brush over the empanadas later.
Take out your dough and using a rolling pin, roll the dough into 3mm or 1/8 inch thick. Don’t make it too thin else the crust will break when baked. Using a cookie cutter or anything round that is at least 10cm or 4 inches in diameter, cut circles from the dough. This will be your crust.
Scoop 1 to 2 tablespoons of the filling and place at the center of the crust. Fold the crust so that the edges meet and seal using a fork.
Lay down on a greased baking sheet and brush the top of your empanadas with the egg/water wash.
With a knife, make 2 to 3 slits at the top to let the steam pass through while baking.
Bake for 20 minutes.
I’ll have a rematch with the empanadas soon. I really want to find out the best empanada crust recipe.
What I do know for now is that I have tasty empanadas to snack on tomorrow 🙂
6 Comments
eatgreek.net
they looks yummy!!! 😀
Dana - Food for Thought
I’ve never made homemade empenadas, but it definitely sounds like something I want to try!! These sound great!
RavieNomNoms
Gorgeous
cherie
Love it!
ela
sarap naman!
i also like red ribbon’s empanada na cute (read, small serving)
paired with their palabok.
glad to know you’re feeling better…
Joy
They look great. I’m so used to using ground chicken instead of chicken chunks. I should try that next time.