Every culture, it seems, has its way of wrapping up some delicious meat in a blanket of deep fried dough.
Pupusas of El Salvador, pierogis of Poland, salteñas of Bolivia, Russian piroshkis, turnovers, hand pockets, pastechis, empanadas, pasties…and I could go on…Meat pies are elemental to our global existence.
My grandmother hails from Cuba and is tickled with Greek roots. As a child she used to make our familial meat pies – called Empanadias. I’m pretty sure that’s not a real word, as I can’t find another recipe for them anywhere. But Yiayia is like Shakespeare, and you never question a ‘Great’.
Here is another list of words she has created:
- Pani – a hand towel
- Shitbird – a politician or lawyer or someone who runs by you really fast
- Beecho – a bug
- Fash Fush – having cold symptoms
- Vre – You, when you’ve done something annoying
- Mocoso – boogers
- Fasaria – being argumentative
- Carmonchorman – a huge mess
- Cidialason – God help us
- Muz muz – dopey
Whew. Learning a new vocabulary makes you work up an appetite.
Feeds a lot; Takes patience or about 2 hours
Ingredients for dough/frying:
- 1/2 bag of all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 6-8 cups canola oil
- 1 cup water, plus a little more
- 2 tsp kosher salt
Ingredients for filling:
- 1 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1 1/2 lb ground beef
- 4 carrots, peeled and cut in 3rds
- 8 medium sized yukon gold potatoes, halved if too large
- 2 small jars pimento stuffed olives
- 10 cups water
- Salt and pepper
Method:
First prepare the dough. In a large bowl, make a well in the middle of your flour and salt. Add oil and eggs 1 at a time. It helps if you have another set of hands to add water as you begin to work the dough.
The dough will be very sticky at first. Add the cup of water slowly until you get a smooth consistency and form into a ball. Allow to rest while you make the filling.
In a Dutch oven, heat a little olive oil with meat over medium heat and season with salt and pepper.
In a separate pot, boil carrots and potatoes in salted water bath. Cook until soft, but not mushy (about 15-20 min.)
Drain veggies and allow to cool completely. Cut potatoes into a small dice. Cut carrots in small rounds.
Once meat is just cooked through, drain thoroughly.
Combine veggies, meat and olives – taste and season if needed.
Pick off a small part of the dough and roll into a golf ball sized ball.
Flour a board and roll out each ball into a thin circle, a bit smaller than the size of your outstretched hand.
Fill with a heaping spoonful of filling. Roll one side of dough over filling and crimp the edges tightly with a fork.
Using an electric skillet, heat 6-8 cups of oil until hot.
Fry the empandias in batches, flipping once after about 2 min per side.
Drain excess oil by placing them on their sides. Serve warm or room temp or cold or eaten off the counter the next morning…
Interested in cooking more like my Yiayia? Try Yiayia’s Avgolemono (Greek chicken and rice soup with lemon) or Greek Village Salad with Fried Zucchini and Feta or perhaps your fancy some Ouzo and Cinnamon Infused Greek Meatballs…You may also like my Magic Carnitas, loved by Cuban grandmothers everywhere.
