Ground Beef Empanadas

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Wrapping Dough

1. 1
   Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.

   Bowl
2. 2
   Add the cold butter in cubes and rub it in with your fingertips, until coarse crumbs form.

   💡The butter must stay cold: butter that melts in your hands gives a hard dough instead of a crumbly one. Work quickly, and if the dough warms up, put it back in the fridge.
3. 3
   Add the egg and cold water and quickly bring together with your hands, without kneading, just until the dough comes together.

   💡Knead as little as possible: long kneading develops gluten, and the dough comes out tough and shrinks in the oven.
4. 4
   Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 60 minutes.

   ⚙ Wrapping and Chilling the DoughPlastic wrapRefrigerator

   💡Chilling firms the butter and relaxes the gluten: the dough rolls out easily, doesn't stick to the counter and doesn't shrink in the oven.

For the Pastry Filling

1. 5
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan
2. 6
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 7
   Raise the heat to medium-high and add the meat. Press it flat over the bottom and leave it for 2–3 minutes without stirring, until a brown crust forms.

   Stove

   💡Brown ground beef in the pot without pressing it: leave it as one 'cake' for a few minutes until a brown crust forms, then break it into chunks. Deep browning = deep flavor.
4. 8
   Break it up with a wooden spoon and fry for 5–7 more minutes, stirring, until no pink is left and the meat browns.

   StoveWooden spoon
5. 9
   Add the red pepper and tomatoes to the meat and cook about 15 minutes, until the liquid evaporates and the filling is thick.

   Stove

   💡Cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated: a wet filling leaks out at the edges and opens the pastry during baking or frying.
6. 10
   Add the cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper and fry another 1–2 minutes, until fragrant.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
7. 11
   Remove from the heat and cool the filling completely, about half an hour.

   💡Fill dough only with completely cooled filling: a hot filling softens the dough, makes it hard to seal and makes the pastry soggy inside.

To assemble

1. 12
   Roll out the dough thin, to 2–3 mm, and cut into into rounds of about 12–15 cm.

   ⚙ Rolling Out DoughRolling pinKnife

   💡Roll from the center outward and give the dough a quarter turn between rolls: this keeps it even in thickness and stops it sticking to the counter. If it springs back, cover for 10–15 minutes and try again.
2. 13
   Place a spoonful of cooled filling in the center of each piece, fold into half-moons and seal the edges well with a fork.

   💡Seal well and press with a fork all along the edges, and don't overfill: a pastry that opens in the oven loses its filling, and in the fryer it fills with oil.
3. 14
   Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brush with beaten egg.

   Baking panParchment paper

   💡Brush with an egg beaten with a teaspoon of water: the glaze turns shiny and golden.
4. 15
   Bake in an oven preheated to 190°C (375°F) 20–25 minutes, until the pastries are puffed and golden underneath too.

   ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.