When I was younger and living in London, pre-theatre dinners or family get-togethers would often be a meal at an Argentinian steak restaurant, the Gaucho Grill. Of course, there’s no way I’d go there now (although I think it’s still one of my brother’s favourite places to eat…) , it must be the most un vegan-friendly place going- not just the menu but the décor too- the restaurants are all fitted out in black leather with cow hide furnishings everywhere! The one good thing I take from our visits though is the memory of empanadas.
If you’re unfamiliar with empanadas, they’re popular street food in South America and are essentially flaky pastry pockets filled with a whole variety of fillings, often cheese, meat, and beans. For my vegan version I decided on a smoky, spiced black bean and vegetable filling and served them with a chipotle sour cream for a nice creamy contrast.
I ate a few for dinner alongside a fresh garden salad, but, like my beetroot falafel, they’re also great party food. Pile up plates with the pastries, serve the sauce in a dish on the side and your guests can eat them with their hands.
This recipe is rather time-consuming but it does make a lot. They are very moreish though so you might end up eating more than you anticipate! You can also freeze them either before or after baking and reheat or cook in the oven from frozen.
Smoky Black Bean Empanadas with Chipotle Sour Cream:
For the Dough:
(Adapted from Viva Vegan! )
3C Flour ( I was using up odds and ends from the pantry so used a mixture of rye, spelt and cornmeal!)
1 1/2t Salt
1/4t Baking soda
7T Coconut oil, chilled
3/4C or more cold water
Non-dairy milk for brushing
Using a food processor pulse flour salt and baking soda together. Add solid coconut oil to the food processor and pulse again until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Remove mixture to a large bowl and stream in cold water while mixing with fingers. Add just enough water until dough comes together but is not sticky. Knead a few times, divide into 4 balls, flatten each into a thick disc, wrap tightly in cling film and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.
For the Filling:
1T Olive oil
1 Onion, diced small
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
1 Red pepper, diced small
1 Medium courgette, diced small
1 1/2C (1 Can) Black beans
1/2t Salt
1/2t Cumin
1/2t Mild chili powder
1/2t Smoked paprika
1/4-1/2t Liquid smoke (If unavailable use a bit more smoked paprika)
Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Add garlic, red pepper and courgette and continue to cook until soft, approx 5-8 minutes. Add black beans, salt and spices and stir to coat everything well. Turn off heat and set aside until you’re ready to fill your empanadas.
Note: Feel free to mix up the filling ingredients. I think corn would be a nice addition, crumbled tempeh, or maybe plantain?
Chipotle Sour Cream:
1/2C Cashews, soaked
1/4C + 2T Water
1T Chipotle chili in adobe sauce (I puree the cans and store in the freezer and break off a piece when needed)
1 Clove of garlic
1t Apple cider vinegar
1/4-1/2t Salt
Squeeze of lime juice
Blend everything together (a short-cup/personal blender is ideal for small amounts like this). Taste for salt.
Putting it together:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F
Remove dough from fridge and roll out a disc of dough between two sheets of parchment paper into a circle about 1/8” thick. Using a bowl as a guide, cut out circles of approx 4-5” diameter (you can make them bigger if you prefer but that’s the size I went for). Cover and keep cool while you repeat with the next dough disc. Gather up all the remaining dough scraps, re-roll only one more time and cut out as many circles as possible.
Place approx 1 1/2T filling in the middle of each circle, dampen edge with a wet finger and fold one side over the filling. Roll, braid or crimp edge to seal (It took me a while to get the hang of this but I found simply rolling the edge in was the easiest). Place on a lined baking sheet and brush lightly with non-dairy milk. Repeat process until all empanadas are filled- I had a little filling left.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning baking sheet half-way through cooking process to ensure even browning. Let cool for a couple of minutes and serve warm with chipotle sour cream.
I’m submitting this recipe to the weekly blog link-ups Wellness Weekends, Healthy Vegan Fridays and Meatless Mondays
Britain doesn’t have much of a tradition of street-food, although, in London especially, street food from other countries is getting really popular.
Where you live do you have street-food stalls available to you?
Mmmmm smoky black bean sounds really good, I bet the filling is good in tamales, too! I had yummy empanadas in Colombia few months ago, and they were so good and cheap. I wish I can borrow the vegetarian owner’s recipe! The Chipotle Sour Cream sounds really good, traditionally in Colombia empanadas are served with spicy aji sauce (greenish hot peppery sauce). It’s fresh and light, but spicy. I don’t know about empanadas in Argentina yet, but I’ll see what they serve with, since I will be staying there for a few months. I leave Spain in 2 weeks.
The spicy aji sauce sounds good, although I guess it might work better with a cheesy filling than my bean one? Look forward to seeing your adventures in Argentina. I’m so loving seeing what you’re up to (and eating!) in Spain.
I know there are some vegan food carts around here, but I haven’t seen or found them yet. We did enjoy a food truck rally recently and look forward to more of those. I would love to make empanadas. They would be a hit around here with the kids.
A food truck rally?! That sounds amazing. I hope you try empanadas, they’re easily customizable to your tastes too
You had me at “smoky!” Looks soooooo good! I’m lucky to live in NYC and on Fridays I get to go to the Cinnamon Snail. Love love love.
I’ve heard all about the Cinnamon Snail even from all the way over here! I remember reading something about their breakfast choices being especially awesome….
This recipe sounds wonderful. I’m a big fan of food from many places, including South America. I love the idea of pureeing the chipotles in adobo sauce. It seems like a really sensible solution, considering that I’ve never seen a recipe call for more than one of those chiles.
I don’t know that we have street food here, even though I live right on the border with Mexico. They probably do have street food downtown, but I am rarely in that area. The place where I would really have liked to try it was in Bangkok, Thailand, but we were advised not to try anything that wasn’t well boiled.
The chipotle trick’s a pretty nifty one. Can’t remember where I picked that up. You lived in Bangkok?! That must have been an experience! I’ve visited Koh Samui, one of the islands, but not the mainland.
No, I did not really live in Bangkok - I spent 7 weeks there with a girlfriend. Bangkok is an absolutely amazing city. If you ever go, make sure you get to Lumphini Park - an oasis in the middle of an incredibly busy city - if you like beautiful parks. BTW the huge lizards they have there are NOT Komodo dragons. I’ve also spent a day in Phuket (one of the islands) which was fun and featured good food. We’ll be going back there for another day visit on our cruise next year. The one place on the mainland that came highly recommended was Chiang Mai, but we didn’t go because they were having trouble with drought and wildfires at the time of our visit. I’ve heard only good things about Chiang Mai. I hope you get to go to the mainland - it’s well worth it. Thailand is an amazing place.
There are sadly no food trucks or carts near me, and I’ve never been able to track down any of the vegan specialty trucks in NYC. I need more practice with this whole street food trend! Until then, these empanadas sound fantastic, and I’m happy to have another recipe that uses zucchini. I’m not even growing them and I still find myself with too much on hand.
haha, yes, the race to keep up with the never-ending zucchini!
yeah I don’t really like going to places with ‘grill’ in their name - but your epanadas sound delicious
Definitely. the word “grill” is the sign to turn away pronto!
I love empanadas!! Although I don’t think I’ve ever made any…sad. Need to change that! And yeah…I avoid any bar/pub restaurant situation..you never fare well as a vegan or vegetarian!
You definitely need to change that. I thought they were pretty fun to make too, even if kind time-consuming.
Joining you from the Meatless Monday Blog Hop! What a yummy recipe! I will be trying this for sure! I am now following you on all social media. Hope you will stop by and do the same!
Sandra
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