Empanadas De Choclo

Argentina has a lot to offer when it comes to food.
​- Elena Ruiz

Argentina has a lot to offer when it comes to food. After the Spanish colonization in the 16th Century, most of the indigenous foods were lost, and Spanish and European cuisine dominated the country. Which is how Argentina became known for their Sandwiches de Miga introduced to them by Northern Italian immigrants. Or even more famously, their empanadas, which have origins in Galicia, Spain.

However, one thing the Europeans did not take from Argentinians is their love of beef. So, of course when I asked my grandmother’s Spanish teacher, family friend, and Argentina native, Beatriz to teach me how to make empanadas, she jumped at the opportunity. I’ve recently gone vegetarian, but this isn’t a problem since empanadas can be filled various ways. Beatriz taught me how to make one of her favorite kinds of empanadas: empanadas de choclo (with corn).
Before we got into how to make the empanadas, I wanted to know more about the food itself. So, I asked Beatriz some questions in relation to her history with the food.

Elena Ruiz: What do empanadas mean for you?
Beatriz: For me, empanadas mean friendship. Usually when friends come together they order empanadas the same way that Americans order Pizza here. When you eat empanadas, you are with your friends. My favorite Empanadas are ham and cheese, onion and cheese, and the ones we are making today. On different occasions we (Argentine people) prepare different sized empanadas. For fancy parties we prepare small empanadas (empanaditas). For a get together that’s less formal, we make larger empanadas.

ER: What’s the history of empanadas in Argentina?
B: Empanadas are food from the countryside, they are a folk food. The first empanadas were fried rather than put in the oven because not a lot of people had an oven. When my dad built a house for my grandma, my grandma asked him for a brick oven in the garden. So she would make empanadas in the oven because it made the food taste better.
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ER: So, the first time you made empanadas was with your grandmother?
B: Yes, I remember one time in my grandmother’s house, my family from my dad’s side came to visit and they danced and played folk music. My grandma made the dough and we [the children] were in charge of filling the empanadas. She cut the dough and put it down for us, and we put beef, then one olive, then one small piece of egg. I will never forget that day, because all of my family was helping my grandma make empanadas. It was a beautiful party.

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​To make Empanadas de Choclo you will need:
-Saute Pan
-Spatula
-Baking Sheet
-Oven

Ingredients for Filling:

1. 1 large yellow onion
2. 1 medium red bell pepper
3. 1 can of creamed corn
4. Olive oil
5. Red chili flakes
6. Salt to taste

Ingredients for assembling the Empanada:

1. 1 pack of Criollas Para Horno (for the oven)
2. 1 egg
3. Flour
4. Water

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Directions For Filling:

1. Strain  the extra liquid from creamed corn and mix it with normal corn
2. Dice the yellow onion, and bell pepper
3. In the saute pan add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil add all of the diced onion, bell pepper, and salt on medium heat
4. Once the onions and bellpepper have cooked for about five minutes, add in red chili flakes (the more you add, the more heat the empanadas will have)
5. After about 10 minutes of cooking add in corn and turn down the heat to low, then remove the pan from the stove top to allow the filling to cool.

Directions for Assembling the empanada:

1. Set out the Empanada shells to defrost and preheat the oven to 450
2. Flour a flat surface and lay out the now defrosted empanadas shells
3. With your fingertips, dampen the edges of the empanada shells with water
4. Take a spoonful (small amount) of the filling in the center of the shell. Then fold the shell over evenly closing the edges.
5. After the edges are closed, take a fork and define the edge of the empanada. This also ensures that the edge is closed all the way.
6. Pick up the empanada and lay the empanada up until it can stand on the bottom. Then place on the baking sheet.
7. Beat the egg, then paint the empanadas with the egg. (This step is optional, as it only makes the empanadas, “prettier”)
8. Add an oven safe container filled with water to the bottom of the oven. This will evenly distribute the heat for the empanadas to cook fully. Insert the empanadas into the oven and let cook for 10-15 minutes until brown. Check the empanadas or else they will burn.
9. When you take out the empanadas from the oven, immediately remove the empanadas from the baking sheet to keep from sticking. Place them on a separate plate or countertop to cool.​