Chicken Empanadas

"These empanadas are best if you make the filling the day before, and leave it to chill overnight. Posted for ZWT7."
 
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photo by KateL photo by KateL
photo by KateL
Ready In:
1hr 10mins
Ingredients:
21
Yields:
12 empanadas
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ingredients

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directions

  • FILLING:

  • Sift the flour into a bowl. Stir in the salt and the sugar.
  • Blend the butter and shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or with two knives, until fairly well blended.
  • Whisk the egg yolks with 3/4 cups water. Stir in the 1/2 cup of water/egg mixture, a little at a time until the dough starts to come together smoothly. Keep kneading the dough, adding more water/egg a little bit at a time as necessary (you made need a few tablespoons extra of water), until the dough is smooth. The dough will seem a bit shaggy until it has thoroughly chilled.
  • Cover the dough with saran wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. (Dough can also be kept overnight (or a couple of days) in the refrigerator) Dough should be soft and smooth, and not elastic - if you poke a hole in it with your finger, the indentation should remain.
  • FILLING.
  • Prepare empanada dough and chill.
  • Poach the chicken: Place the chicken breasts in a pot with the bouillon and bay leaf, and cover with water or chicken broth.
  • Bring to a boil, and simmer over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Let cool in the broth.
  • Shred chicken into small pieces, and moisten with 1 or 2 tablespoons of the broth. Set aside.
  • Heat oil in a skillet. Add chopped onions, paprika, cumin, chile powder, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.
  • Cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until onions are soft and clear, and mixture is golden brown.
  • Remove from heat and stir in the chicken. For best flavor, refrigerate filling until the next day.
  • Stir chopped hard boiled egg and olives into filling mixture.
  • Separate empanada dough into golf ball size pieces, and roll each one into a smooth ball. Let rest 5 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 220°C.
  • On a floured surface, roll each ball of dough into a circle about 6 inches in diameter.
  • Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of filling in the middle of the circle. Brush the edges of the dough along the bottom half of the circle lightly with water.
  • Fold the top half of the circle of dough over the filling to form a semicircle, and press edges together firmly to seal.
  • Brush the pressed edge with a little bit of water, and fold the edge over itself, pinching and crimping as you go to make a braid-like effect. Place empanadas on a baking sheet.
  • Mix egg yolk with water and brush mixture lightly over entire surface of each empanada.
  • Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and slightly puffed.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Reviews

  1. Food is even more important with SIP(Covid). I made empanadas for the first time, and was happy with the results. It is time consuming but is well worth it for the results. I was able to freeze half of them, to serve later. I shortcut and used a store bought rotisserie chicken. Did not have lard, but coconut oil worked for a sub. The flavor is amazing, especially with the slight tang of olives to make it interesting. I think the suggestion of splitting the task to two days makes it more manageable. Day one: dough and filling, Day two: assembly, baking, freezing. I baked the frozen ones right out of the bag, brushed with egg and they were just as good as the day they were made. I will be making these again, but doubling the batch to have more to freeze. Thanks for posting this!!!
     
  2. The pastry was superb, even for a baking-challenged cook like me. I used 2 large white onions and ended up with too much onion compared to the chicken, and a lot of left-over chicken mixture once all 12 empanadas were made. (I would limit to 3 cups of onion.) The mildly-spiced filling tasted good, but it was overpowered by the pastry, which was excellent. Used Recipe #173837 #173837 to hard-boil eggs. Used pimento-stuffed Manzanilla olives. Needed additional egg wash for the last 4 empanadas. Next time I will try 2 cups of onion, no eggs and 3/4 cup of olives. These took 20 minutes at 425 F. Made for Please Review My Recipe.
     
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Please rate my recipes if you try them! :) **************************************************** Check out the 21 Day Wonder Diet recipes I have posted! I lost 6kg in 3 weeks and feel fantastic! I plan on repeating the diet in a couple of weeks..hoping tio lose another 6kg!! **************************************************** A big thankyou to everyone who has rated and reviewed my stuff, and HUGE thankyou for the wonderful photos. Things have been hectic around here, but I have a cookbook set aside, and I promise I will repay you all with a review of one of your recipes as soon as things calm down a bit! :) <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/IWasAdoptedfall08.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/PACfall08partic.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q140/AphY_2007/cocktail1.jpg" > <img src="http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/jewelies/Hebe-1.jpg"> AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND RECIPE SWAP SEPTEMBER 2008 <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/adoptedspring08.jpg"> Well..about me! I'm married, I have 2 kids (both boys), and I live in Australia. I have loved cooking for as long as I can remember, and have become completely addicted to browsing through Zaar looking for new recipes! I have a small animal shelter for rabbits and guinea pigs, and spend most of my time looking after kids or critters!. My favourite cookbooks are The Essential Pasta Cookbook, The Central Cookery Book, Flo Bjielkie-Peterson's Country Cookbook, and Greek Cooking (I bought that one in Greece, and it's FANTASTIC). At the minute, we are getting ready to move, which is forcing me to sort through my recipe cabinet. I have been trying out all those recipes that are scribbled on pieces of paper, or torn from magazines, so I can decide ifthey are keepers or not. So far I've found a lot of keepers, and will work at posting them on here. I'm passionate about a lot of things, mainly my kids, animals, and cooking. I won't even start on my peeves, we'll be here all night! lol
 
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