Cuban Picadillo Empanadas

Wash the ground beef in a colander using cold water. I do this for two reasons. When the ground beef cooks it cooks really fine so there are no big chunks and second it removes excess fat. Make sure to clean up sink area after washing to avoid creating any bacteria.

Heat a sauté pan on medium high heat. When hot add ground beef and cook about 10 to 15 minutes. When all the ground beef is cooked through and is no longer pink drain in a clean colander. Heat sauté pan again with a tablespoon of olive oil on medium high heat and return ground beef to pan. Season beef with salt, garlic powder, red aji cachucha powder and black pepper.

Finely dice or grate the onion and smash the garlic cloves.

Add the grated onions with the smashed or grated garlic to the ground beef and continue to cook for five minutes until onions are soft. 

Deglaze the pan with white wine (vino seco).

Add tomato sauce and turn down the heat to medium low. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon red aji cachucha powder and 1 teaspoon of cumin. Add 2 teaspoons of green olive juice, I just want the flavor of the green olives, not to actually bite into any olives. Stir to combine and cover. Let simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat and let cool while preparing empanada dough.

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder.

Add the cold grated frozen butter on top of the flour. Using your hands gently mix the butter into the flour. Do not break the butter down, just start to incorporate the butter into the flour.

Add the sparkling water and combine with hands. The flour will start to look “shaggy” and crumbly.

Add the orange juice and continue to combine with hands.

Remove dough onto a floured surface and knead into a ball until it looks smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Prepare Egg Wash. Whisk one egg with water.

Roll dough out onto a floured surface. Get the dough as thin as you can get it, about 1/8" or thinner. 

Now, make empanada discs using an empanada mold, a small bowl, or a glass. Since I am making an appetizer platter of two bite appetizers I used a glass that was about 3 1/2”  in diameter that gave me smaller empanadas. You can make larger empanadas using something with a larger diameter. 

If you want to make larger empanadas use a hand pie mold. This will make about 8-10 empanadas instead of 25. 

Start heating some oil in a frying pan or a fryer to 350 degrees. 

Fill discs with a heaping teaspoon of picadillo filling. Brush edges with egg wash and fold over to seal. Seal empanadas using a fork's tongs or the pinch and fold method. Put empanadas in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. 

Fry empanadas for about 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove empanadas from oil and drain on paper towels or a wire rack.

Serve empanadas with Rosa dipping sauce.