This is one of the recipes that I grew up eating, it was something that wasn't too hard for my Mom to make and they weren't too messy so we could take them on road-trips with us. The original recipe that my Mom sent includes the directions to make your own crust, I was feeling lazy and was a little low on time so I cheated and used store-bought pie crust. Feel free to do whatever suits your needs. I also grew with my Mom using ground beef instead of the steak, I didn't have ground beef so finished up the package of ground turkey from the freezer. My roommates do not like raisins so those were not included, neither was the hontaka chili.
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 pound boneless beef sirloin steak , cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons seedless raisins , soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 10 minutes and drained thoroughly
1 teaspoon dried hontaka chili , seeded and crumbled, or 2 small pequin chilies, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound plus 2 tablespoons butter , cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup water
2 hard-cooked eggs , each cut into 8 wedges lengthwise
6 pitted green olives , quartered
First prepare the filling in the following fashion: In an 8- to 10-inch skillet, combine the onions, oilive oil and 1/2 cup water, and boil over high heat until the water is completely evaporated. Add the meat and cook, stirring constantly, until it is browned on all sides. Stir in the raisins, chili, paprika, cumin, salt and a few grindings of pepper. Set the filling aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 deg. To make the dough, combine the flour, salt and butter in a large bowl. Use your fingers to rub the flour and butter together until they blend and look like coarse meal. Pour the water over the mixture all at once and gather the dough into a compact ball.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, making a rough circle about 1/8 inch thick. As you roll, lift up the dough from time to time and sprinkle a light dusting of flour under it to prevent the dough from sticking. With a cookie cutter 5 inches in diameter or an empty can of similar size, cut out 5-inch circles. (Or using a plate or saucer 5 inches in diameter as a pattern, cut out the circles with a knife or pastry wheel.) Gather the scraps of dough together into a ball and roll out again. Cut out similar 5-inch circles.
Place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the meat filling in the center of each circle, leaving at least 1/2 inch of dough exposed around it. Top the filling with 1 piece of egg and 2 pieces of olive, and moisten the exposed dough with a finger dipped in water. Fold the
empanada in half to form a crescent, and press the edges firmly together. Following the pictures opposite, shape the edges of the empanadas. Arrange the finished empanadas on an ungreased baking sheet. If they must wait, cover them with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate them.
