Colombian Empanadas (Beef or Chicken)

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A corn dough shell filled with potato mashed into seasoned beef or chicken, folded into half-moons and fried. Fifteen empanadas, and the filling has to be dry before it goes anywhere near the dough.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Dough resting20

Total Time1 40

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: Colombian empanadas

Servings: empanadas

Calories: 277kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

For the Filling

1 pound ground beef or shredded chicken breast one or the other, not both
2 cups potatoes peeled and cubed
1 cup tomato chopped
½ cup white onion chopped
¼ cup scallion chopped
½ cup cilantro chopped
2 tablespoons red pepper finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 bouillon cube Maggi or Ricostilla
1 tablespoon oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

For the Dough

3 cups precooked yellow cornmeal masarepa, the kind for arepas
3 cups water
1 tablespoon oil
½ teaspoon salt
Achiote or annatto colouring 'color' in Colombia, to taste
Vegetable oil for frying
Lemon and chilli for serving

Instructions

To prepare the dough

Put the cornmeal in a large bowl with the achiote colouring and the salt and mix well. Add the water and the oil and mix until it comes together into a dough. Roll it into a ball and knead for 3 minutes, until it is smooth. Cover it with plastic and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.

To make the filling

Cook the potatoes in a pot of water with the bouillon cube for 25 minutes, or until they are soft. Drain them and mash them. Set them aside.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Then add the tomato, the scallion, the garlic, the red pepper, the cilantro, the salt and the black pepper, and sauté for about 15 minutes.
Add the ground beef or the shredded chicken. Carry on cooking for 13 to 15 minutes, until the mixture is dry.
Mix the meat and the mashed potato together.

To fill and fry

Go back to the dough and roll about two teaspoons of it into a ball with your hands.
Put each ball between two sheets of plastic and flatten it with your fingertips into a circle, or use a rolling pin. Take off the top sheet and put 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle.
Using the plastic underneath, fold the dough over the filling into a half-moon and seal the edges tightly with your fingers.
Fill a large pan or pot with oil and heat it over medium heat.
Lower 3 or 4 empanadas into the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes a side, until golden. Be careful putting them in so the oil does not splash.
Lift them out with a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Serve with chilli and slices of lemon.

Notes

The filling has to be dry. The fourth step says to cook it until the mixture is dry and that is the instruction that decides whether these work: a wet filling steams inside the shell, softens the dough from within and splits it open in the oil. Give it the full 13 to 15 minutes and let the liquid go. Masarepa, not cornmeal. The dough is precooked yellow corn flour, the same kind used for arepas, sold as masarepa or areparina. Ordinary cornmeal has not been precooked and will never form a dough that holds together. Seal the edges properly and use the plastic to help you fold. An empanada with a gap along the seam fills with oil, and the filling comes out. Press all the way round with your fingers, and press again after you peel the plastic away. Beef or chicken, one or the other. A pound of either fills fifteen empanadas alongside the two cups of potato, and the recipe was never asking for both.

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