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My mother was born in Brazil, my father in Ecuador. Since my father had family in the United States when they were married, my mother by default, learned how to speak Spanish and cook for her Ecuadorian husband. My mother learned to become an amazing cook, serving up the family a variety of tasty items from her country, my fathers and and a blend of American foods with a Latin American flare.
I think one of my favorite things that my family would prepare were foods, that as a kid I thought came in pockets. Tortilla de Verde, Empanadas, Llapingachos (stuffed potato patties) and more. It was like they were filled with a surprise and were special because since they took a little elbow grease, we didn’t get them frequently.
As I got older and had my own kids I started making these sweet and savory treats for my kids and watched them gobble them up with the same joy I used to as a child. Now my kids are even older and they want to start to learn how to make these treats themselves.
This week pulling together our meal plan I came across a pile of recipes I had been working on almost two years ago. Naturally I thought, “oooo, let’s try this again!” I guess this is the by product of starting a new business, pages upon pages of not completely finished recipes just waiting for completion. So Monday night turned into Empanada night. I grabbed some pork for The Lockhart Family Farm (of of our local producers), by the time I got home in the 97 degree weather, it was ready to cook up.
Since I am completely nightshade-free, many Latin American dishes are a bit more challenging for me. After a few years doing modified AIP, I have learned to make things work, flavor-wise for me and still incorporate those delicious flavors I grew up with, minus the inflammatory agents. Sofrito is a cornerstone to many Latin American dishes and consists of a sauteed combination of garlic, peppers and tomato. Obviously these ingredients don’t work for me, but I have come up with a combination that my mom says isn’t quite the real deal, but is pretty damn good. While this version of the dough is paleo but not AIP, the sofrito can be used with the following recipes as well.
The scrawled remains of a recipe I had in my notebook for the dough was terrible and I suddenly remembered by I 
had abandoned it! But a with few changes here and there and we had a lovely, workable dough.
In my mind I had been thinking AIP, but then it occurred to me that my nutty, eggy dough was anything but. So I created a vegan dough, which I loved too! Lastly I realized, “well… this still isn’t AIP.” So I worked on a cassava based dough as well, which I ALSO loved! Instead of *trying* to make ONE post for all of those, I decided to split them into dedicated posts instead. So the vegan (eggless) version will be next week with the AIP version as well!
My son LOVED being able to press together these little pockets, he has such nimble fingers! While they may not have been as “perfect” as I would have liked them to look, they looked lovely and were formed by my son’s hands. To me, that is about as perfect as it gets.
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 head garlic, chopped
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 1/2 cup oil (coconut oil or lard)
- 1/4 fresh cilantro, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
- 1. Over medium/high heat, add the oil to the pan.
- 2. When the pan is hot, add the onion and garlic and saute until slightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- 3. Add the remaining ingredients and cook another 10 minutes, stirring constantly. If the ingredients stick, add another tablespoon of oil at a time.
- 4. Set aside for use in dishes or freeze in ice cube trays for future use.
- 2 cups fine almond flour (like Honeyville)
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup "sofrito"
- 1 lb ground pork
- 2 tablespoons oil (coconut oil or lard)
- 2 cups coconut oil or lard
- 1. Heat a pan to medium/high.
- 2. Add the oil and pork to the pan.
- 3. Cook the pork until browned.
- 4. Add the sofrito and saute just a few minutes to heat through and combine.
- 5. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for filling dough.
- 6. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, salt and baking powder. Blend well.
- 7. Gradually add the water and stir until thick. When it becomes too thick to stir with a spoon, use your hands to mash it together until you have a smooth and consistent looking dough.
- 8. Allow the dough to rest for 2 minutes.
- 9. While the dough is resting add the cooking oil to a heavy bottom pan or dutch oven. Heat to 350 degrees.
- 10. Using your hands take the dough and cut it into 12 even balls. (for large empanadas, only divide the dough into 8 balls).
- 11. Place one piece of parchment paper on the working surface. Dust it lightly with tapioca flour and place the ball on it. Flatten it a bit and dust the top with a little tapioca flour.
- 12. Using a second piece of parchment paper, cover the ball and using a rolling pin, roll the dough evenly out creating a circle about 1/8 thick.
- 13. Remove the top parchment and turn the dough onto the palm of your hand.
- 14. Using a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop one spoon full of the filling into the center of the dough.
- 15. Use the opposite hand to dab a little water around the edge of the dough and fold it in half creating a crescent.
- 16. Press the dough together were it meets. You can also pinch the dough around the edge to create a more decorative edge.
- 17. Working in batches of 4-6 empanadas, drop them into the cooking oil, turning after about 3 minutes (or until lightly browned).
- 18. Remove from oil and allow to cool slightly. They are best served warm.
- Enjoy!
- This dough preparation can also be baked, for a golden brown crust make an egg wash with 1 egg white and 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the surface of each empanada and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.
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