Empanadas are stuffed pastry (usually eaten using one’s hands) extremely common in Argentina, though the traditional stuffing include meats and eggs, or sometimes just chicken.
While I had no idea what I was doing when I started this vegan variation, it turned out extremely good, and equally simple, especially to prepare in very large quantities.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 3 small onions, miniprimmed
- ½ large red bell pepper, miniprimmed
- ½ spoonful coriander
- ½ - ⅔ spoonful curry powder
- ½ spoonful cumin
- 100-150g spaniach (optional)
- 1 large cup red lentil
- 2 handfuls olives, sliced
- Empanada doughs. These units roughly fill up 18.
Preparation
Boil the lentil with a bit of coarse salt for about 15 minutes to cook them and make the softer. You don’t want them too squishy, though, so be careful. Once these are cooked, pass them through a colander. You don’t need to make this completely dry, just remove the excess liquid.
Cut the onions and red bell pepper very small. I ran them through a minipimer (separately) for a few pulses. You want small, solid piece, so don’t mush them all up.
Wash the spinach thoroughly, and cut it into bits. I just used a pair of scissors and cut it about 2-3cm long bits.
Cover the bottom of a pan or wok with olive oil and heat it for a bit. Add the coriander, and let that heat for about 10 seconds. Add the onions, stir a few more seconds. Cook the onions for a few minutes, and then add the red pepper and olives. Continue cooking for a couple more minutes while constantly stirring. Once almost ready, add the curry powder and cumin, and mix thoroughly the last minute or so.
Once the onion and peppers are well done, mix these with the lentil and spinach. You can also cook these a minute or two while mixing/stirring.
You’ll probably need to let the mixture cool for 5-10 minutes. Then fill the doughs, close them, and cook in an oven and medium-high for about 20-30 minutes.