Vegetarian Empanadas

Recently I've been making lots of savoury snacks and main dishes. I guess sometimes I get a little bored of sweet treats especially when I bake so much and have leftovers every day. Sometimes I even have to eat them all day long. So a hearty vegetarian meal or a salty snack is sometimes like a relief. But next day I find myself craving for sweets again. 

But now I'm actually trying to eat less sweets as in three days I'm having a birthday. That means I'll eat A LOT of sweets so this is kind of a preparation for it. I just can't decide what cake I want to make. I'm considering caramel, mocha, chocolate blackout or tiramisu. Ahh that's so difficult. !!

So this time I made empanadas with a vegetarian filling. I couldn't resist it after seeing the recipe on the wonderful Healthy Recipes blog. Even though I've made some alterations, the ingredients remained the same and the result exceeded my expectations. The pastry was flaky, buttery and soft in the middle. And the filling, despite being quite simple, was amazing - all the ingredients and spices matched together perfectly. So I just wanted to share this amazing recipe and encourage you to try it.

Recipe adapted from Healthy Recipes.

Vegetarian Empanadas

Dough:
280g/2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
113g/1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 large egg
80ml/1/3 cup cold water 
1 tbsp white vinegar

Filling:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small white bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
220g mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Egg wash:
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

1) In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Add butter and cut with a knive until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs (or pulse a few times in your food processor).

2) Whisk together the egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl. Add to the flour mixture and mix just until forms a ball.

3) Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough for 1 hour.

4) Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion and bell pepper about 4 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms. Saute about 5 more minutes, until mushrooms are tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Add spices. Cook one more minute, stirring. Remove from heat and set aside.

5) Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Whisk together the egg and water for the egg wash. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from fridge and allow to rest 5 minutes at room temperature.

6) On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll out dough to about 4mm thickness. Cut twelve 10-12cm circles. Place one heaping tablespoon vegetable mixture on one half of each circle, leaving a 2 cm border. Brush egg wash on empty side of circle, fold dough over to make a half-circle and close edges, then crimp edges with a fork.

7) Place the empanadas on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn empanadas over, brush the other side and bake 5 minutes longer, or until lightly browned on both sides. Cool ten minutes on a wire rack before serving.