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Kylie Javier Ashton calls it “the messy but fun bit”. She’s talking about shaping empanadas - turning circles of pastry dough and filling them into neat hand pies with quickly crimped edges.
Watching her make them in The Cook Up with Adam Liaw, you’d think she’d been doing it all her life, but when we chat to the restaurant manager (most recently the long-time manager of Sydney’s hugely successful Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney) it turns out she’s mostly self-taught. That’s good news for those of anyone who wonders if they can master the movement needed to neatly crimp the edges of an empanada. (Surprisingly, that includes Liaw – “I want to see you fold an empanada. I don't know how. I struggle with these. Curry puffs, empanadas, anything that needs that crimped edge, I always struggle with it,” he confesses in the show.
Javier Ashton says it’s just a matter of practice – and don’t worry if your first efforts aren’t neat.
“I've watched my aunts make empanadas, but really I just taught myself through reading recipes and trial and error. The first few batches I made looked pretty dodgy! I just kept at it until I felt more confident but I'm by no means an expert,” she says.
Empanadas, a cousin of sorts to the of Indonesia and Malaysia, the (the pastry kind, not the meatball) of South Africa and France, and the of England, are hugely popular across Latin America. As Sandra A. Gutierrez writes in Empanadas – The hand-held pies of Latin America, the name derives from the Latin phrase in panis, meaning “in bread”. Most empanadas, in fact, are made with pastry dough, not yeasted bread dough. Gutierrez writes that initially, empanadas spread across the globe with the global expansion of the Spanish empire, arriving in the Americas in the 1500s. From there, each country developed its own variations, until today there are endless different types, varying in name, dough, shape and filling. And not just in Latin America – empanadas are a favourite in the Philippines (try from Peter Kuruvita), and in Indonesia there’s the panada, which is a similar dish but usually made with a yeasted dough.
Adam Liaw and Kylie Javier Ashton, making empanadas. Source: The Cook Up with Adam Liaw
Empanadas vary, too, in how they are cooked: while many are baked, some are fried and you may even spot recipes for empanadas that can be cooked on a barbecue, such as .
Argentinian spiced beef empanadas (empanadas mendocinas). Source: Hardie Grant
Top tips
No matter what style of empanada you’re making, there’s one tip that applies universally. “Don't overfill your empanadas,” Javier Ashton says. “Otherwise, it makes it hard to fold them and often the fillings will spill out.
TRY HER RECIPE
Black bean and sweet potato empanadas
“When I first started making them, I would make them one at a time which was messy and much more time-consuming. I think it's because I was reading from the recipe and just following the steps then repeating. The best way to do it is to roll out all your dough and cut all the circles out of them; or divide them into balls and roll them flat. Then, have your filling ready and fold all of them at the same time.
“Also, make sure your butter is cold but not hard. If it's too hard (straight out of the fridge) it will take longer for the dough to come together and you risk overworking your dough and it becoming stiff. If your butter is too soft and warm, your dough will be gooey and it'll make it difficult to shape and fold the dough.”
And if you find some of the traditional shapes tricky, don't worry. While the shape of an empanada and the way the edges are sealed - from half-moons with neat, rope-like twists along the edge to rectangular parcels or rounded dumpling shapes - are , it will be delicious no matter what you do. The easiest options are to simply press the edges together or to use a fork to press a design into the edge.
All the fillings
You can use almost anything in an empanada. Spiced beef is a classic, often with olive, eggs or , which harks back to the Moorish influences in Spain. Try it in , a beef, onion, capsicum, cumin, paprika and cinnamon filling in an easy butter, flour, salt and water dough.
Or , from the Argentinian region of Jachal, which has a beef, mixed spices, olive and boiled egg filling.
In some coastal areas, seafood empanadas are popular – such as (empanadas de camaron) from the coastal city of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.
There are plenty of vegetarian options, such as these (empanadas de humita) or these crunchy .
What is Javier Ashton’s favourite filling?
Meat empanadas (clasico argentino) Source: Argentinian Street Food / Murdoch Books
Jachal-style empanadas. Source: Anson Smart
Prawn empanadas (empanadas de camaron). Source: Mark Roper
Shredded jackfruit empanadas. Source: Savannah van der Niet
“The I made on The Cook Up is a favourite of mine because it's vego but still feels really meaty. It's also a great thing to make if you're having people over as it covers any vegetarians or pescetarians.
“I've made some filled with cheese and served them with Bajan hot sauce. Hot out of the oven they are nice and gooey. If I'm feeling extra decadent I might add some chorizo and chives in the filling.
Sweet potato and black bean empanadas Source: The Cook Up with Adam Liaw
“I also love the Filipino empanadas filled with minced beef. I generally don't make them at home because it's a little more labour intensive having to cook off the meat. However, if you've got leftovers in the fridge like Bolognese sauce, it'd be a great way to repurpose your leftovers by putting them into empanadas!”
Very versatile
As from Angela Nahas for Brazilian hearts of palm empanadas (empadinha de palmito) notes, empanadas are perfect for picnics since they're just as good at room temperature as they are served warm from the oven. You can also freeze them after assembling, ready to bake later.
You can switch and swap fillings and doughs (but stick to the cooking method given in the recipe – some doughs are specifically suited to baking and some to frying). As Gutierrez notes in her book, some doughs are stretchier than others, so if you do choose to change to a different dough, you might find you have extra filling. Not a problem, she says – cook and serve on toast!
Hearts of palm empanadas. Source: Feast / John Laurie
The sweet side
Empanadas are mostly savoury – but there are delicious sweet variations too, such as these (empanadas de platano), a recipe from the Feast magazine archives.
We’ve barely touched the surface on these highly varied, delicious hand pies. If you’re keen to dive deeper, Sandra Gutierrez’s book is an excellent resource. grew up in Guatemala, and has written widely about Latin American food, her book packs a surprisingly large amount of information in its pages. She dives into the different dough types, including gluten-free and vegan styles, and the method for creating that rope-like folded edge, plus each recipe has freezing instructions too.
Plantain empanadas (empanadas de platano). Source: Feast / Anson Smart
For more empanada recipes, and other hand-sized parcels, check out SBS Food’s hand .
