Argentinian Chicken Empanadas

So apparently there’s this little thing called the World Cup coming up....you might have heard about it. It’s my first World Cup where I’ve been into football. You can blame the boyf for brainwashing me for the last 4 years. Now I can’t wait! The first game is this Friday and Australia’s first game is Saturday morning.

Australia is predicted to....fail miserably basically. We’re only ranked 62nd...and we’re up against teams ranked 1^st, 14^th and 15^th who are all predicted to go fairly well. Go figure. But at least we’ll win the Spirit Award!

I think the main focus point for Australia this World Cup is the whole ‘rejuvenating the team’. Our Socceroos needed a shakeup  and Ange was the man to do it. It’s good to see a few of the oldies kicked out and shiny new players brought in.

You never know, we might just do ok....

Anyway, I thought it would be cool to cook a few of the country’s main dishes. Well not main dishes, but typical foods. Hopefully I’ll get through 10 or so over the next month.

To start off with we have Argentinian Chicken Empanadas. Super dooper easy. You can make this even easier by using bought short-crust pastry. They taste awesome. They’re sweet and chilli. The onion and spices create this very sweet filling, but with the hit of chilli, it just works so well.

Dough: 3 cups flour 170g butter, cut into cubes 1 egg 5tbspn ice water

Filling: 1 onion, diced 1 chilli, diced (seeds removed for a milder chilli) 1tbspn paprika 1tsp cumin 1tbspn honey 2 eggs, hard boiled 1 cup cooked chicken, shredded 1tbspn water

Start by boiling your eggs, and cooking the chicken. I did my chicken by roasting 1 chicken breast in the oven for 45mins.   While that’s cooking away start your dough. Add the flour to a food processor. Add in butter, egg and water. Pulse until crumbly.   Pat into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30mins.   Heat oil in a large frypan. Add the onions, chilli, paprika, cumin and honey. Sauté until the onions are translucent.   Add in the chicken, eggs and water. (you can also add in 1/2 cup sliced green olives if you wish too – although I hate olives so I didn’t) Cook for 5mins to combine ingredients.   Leave to sit for 15-20mins to cool down, off heat.   While the filling is cooling, remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to about 3-4mm thick. You don’t want it to be too thick or the pastry to filling ratio won’t be right. Cut out circles to desired size. I’d probably say don’t go any smaller than 10cm diameter or you won’t be able to fit much filling.   Preheat the oven to 180oC   Fill about a tablespoon of the mixture in each dough circle. Fold them in half and squeeze the edges together. Press them with a fork to seal. Makes about 25-30 depending on your size.   For a lovely golden shine, brush each pastry with beaten egg.   Bake for about 25-30mins until golden.

 

(Nutrition based on 24yr old female)

Serving size: 4 empanadas

	Total	DI %
Calories Total Fat Sodium Carbohydrates Dietary Fibre Sugars Protein	272 13.4g 312.7mg 26.3g 0.7g 3.9g 11.2g	14% 19% 15% 8% 3% 6% 22%