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I wrote the headline for this post, then deleted it, then wrote it again, then deleted. And several time more. On one hand it sounds real silly to me calling empanadas, or any type of food for that matter, saucy. On the other hand, look at them, they turned out pretty saucy 🙂 , they kind of look like smiling mouths with their tongues out. For me, these go into the “things I made only to make my daughter taste them, and then they stick”. My older daughter is at an age where kids are serious picky eaters and they stick only to their few familiar dishes. I read somewhere that this actually stems from a justified evolutionary fear, as evolution is trying to protect us from eating harmful foods by having us stick to what we know. So with evolution supporting this behavior, and as I remember how bad I was with regards to nutrition as a child, I try to be more understanding about it. Parents with older kids always tell me the picky eating gets better with time, so I’m optimistic about it. In any ways ,these empanadas turn out crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and generally just awesome, with a, well, saucy look to them.
Another thing which is fun about these empanadas is the fact that their filling doesn’t require any extra pre-work like cooking or baking, rather just a quick chop and blend, and it’s ready. They also freeze well, and can be tossed in the oven for a few minutes to warm up before you serve them.
Besides, they use beets, and my love affair with beets can easily be noticed if you follow this blog, and if not, here’s a cold beet soup which is just perfect for hot days (like lately here), here’s caramelized beets with bulgur that is a great main course, and if you are in the mood for a fancy weekend or holiday dinner (or you just have the time and energy for fancy cooking during the weekdays which is awesome then) try these flour free beet raviolis. Though these days you can easily find beets in the supermarkets throughout the year, now is the season for beets, which means you are likely to find your beets in this time of the year fresh, sweet and contain the most nutritional values.
While most people know about the health benefits of beets, what I found out today (at least according to a few sources on the web) is that if you rub your skull with water that had beet cooked in them, you’ll bound to get rid of your dandruff. You are welcome to try and update if that works…
- For the dough:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (wheat or splet)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tea spoon salt
- ½ cup olive oil, plus a few table spoons to brush the empanadas
- For the filling:
- 1 large beet (about 250g), peeled and cut to medium sized cubes
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped thinly
- ⅓ cup almond butter
- ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ tea spoon salt
- To brush:
- Handful sesame seeds
- Warm an oven to 180 C.
- Prepare the filling:
- Place the beet (1), almond butter (1/3 cup), sunflower seeds (1/3 cup) and salt (1/2 tea spoon) in a high speed blender and puree until smooth.
- Move the beet filling to a bowl and mix in the onion.
- Prepare the dough:
- Place the whole wheat flour (2 cups), all purpose flour (1 cup), olive oil (1/2 cup) and salt (1 tea spoon) in a bowl and mix just a bit.
- Gradually add the water, start with ¾ a cup, work the mix into a dough, if it is too crumbly add some water and knead some more. The dough should be pliable. It is crucial for the water you use to be warm (as warm as you can handle while kneading), as this will make the dough more pliable and easy to handle.
- Create a ball from the dough and divide it to 6 smaller balls.
- Take one piece at a time, and roll it as think as you can using a rolling-pin.
- Use a cup (or a cutter if you own one) to create circles in the rolled dough and remove the dough extras (keep these aside for re-use).
- Move the circles to the pan that will be used in the oven, place a heaping tea spoon of the filling at the center of each circle, gently fold to close it, and press only around the edges.
- Repeat this process until you've used all the dough, including the leftovers which you worked into another dough ball.
- Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and place in the oven for about 25 minutes.
P.S.
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