What are empanadas?

Question

I'm looking for a description of them.

Answer 1

empanadas.
they are little parcels from south america filled with mince meat of your choice. with vegetables chopped very small. it has a pastry made of masa. ( a flour made of corn.) they come in a moon shape. very yuIn Search of the Perfect Empanada
From Bonnie Hamre,
Your Guide to South America for Visitors.
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Appetizers to Dessert: a meal made of empanadas!
These Latin American pastries, filled with seafood, meat, cheese, vegetables or fruit are wildly popular. Thought to have originated in Spain, where the Empanada Festival is part of Galician culture, the name comes from empanar, or to coat with bread. Variations of this form of portable meals are found in Cornish pasties, Italian calzone, or turnovers.
Though empanadas are most associated with Chile and Argentina, many South American countries have their own versions. All recipes use a flour shell, some more bread-like than others, and the fillings vary by chef or locale.

To begin with, the pastry shell is flour, egg, oil, lard or shortening, and a liquid, either water, broth or milk. Some recipes call for yeast or wheat germ or salt. All dough is kneaded, rolled out to size, filled as desired, then baked. Some recipes call for browning the tops under a broiler, then baking, to approximate the look of an old brick oven. Some cooks prefer to fry their empanadas, and this is especially tasty with bite-sized cheese empanadas, or empanaditas. Many cooks, not wishing to make the dough by hand, use prepared pie crusts, or puff pastry for their empanadas. While tasty, they're not the real thing.

Once cooked, cooled, and securely wrapped, empanadas can be frozen, although in my house there are never enough left over to freeze. These two Empanada recipes are ones I grew up with.

Empanadas can be cocktail or appetizer sized, filled with cheese. They can be plate sized, filled with a meat and vegetable mix for a main dish, or smaller, filled with fruit for dessert.

Note: There is no tilde over the n (ñ), so the word is pronunced ehm-pa-nah-das, not ehm-pah-nyah-das.

Answer 2

They are a really tasty colombian food. empanadas can be either baked or fried. The ingredients used in the filling can vary according to the region, but it will usually contain components such as salt, rice, beef or ground beef, boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and peas. However, radical variations can also be found (cheese empanadas, chicken-only empanadas, and even Trucha - Trout - empanadas). The pastry is mostly corn-based, although potato flour is also used. Colombian empanadas are usually served with Aji (also called Picante by some people), a sauce made of cilantro, green onions, vinegar, salt, and lemon juice. Bottled hot sauces are also used to add flavor to the empanadas. Colombian empanadas are also known to contain carrots and chicken. Another variety include Stuffed Potatoes (Papas rellenas) which is a variant that has potato in the pastry instead of maize dough and have round shapes

Answer 3

Cuban empanadas, full of picadillo. there is not any such element as an Asian empanada. Empanada is a spanish be conscious. they are not like pies, they're greater of a bready pastry. there could be filled asian pastries yet they are not empanadas.

Answer 4

Empanadas are all over latinamerica. it's a typical dish. And each country has the proper way to make them.
There are several kind of them, but I agree with chica princess. She's the only one that gave the correct definition.
The most similar in south america are the chilenians, argentinians and uruguayans
Go with chica princess

Answer 5

Purple that's not what empanadas are. In fact they can be stuffed with all kinds of stuff. I like pon dulce its da bomb stuff w/pumpkin. Empanadas are not just Colombian there mexican too.

Answer 6

They are meat stuffed turnovers that typically come from Hispanic countries and the Philippines (which was once ruled by Spain). I usually make the mexican style ones. I fill them with shredded chicken, black olives, chopped and deseeded tomatoes, minced onion, minced garlic, garlic powder, new mexican chili powder, piquin chili powder, cumin, and tomato sauce. I do the dough with a mix of wheat flour, white flour, yellow corn meal, masa flour (white corn flour), lard, the same spices used in the meat and water

Answer 7

an empanadas is like a moon shape pie, you can fill with pie filling, preserves, fruit, cajeta, for sweet and you can make then savory with beef or what ever you like to fill them with. i like mine with chunky preserves, or spicy beef filling. there are so many styles, like mexican, spanish, etc. you can fry them or bake them.. ohh!! and when i make sweet empanadas i dip them in Cinnamon sugar mix or a powdered sugar mix

Answer 8

This site has everything you wanted to know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empanadas

Answer 9

EMPANADAS ARE THIS TYPE OF MEXICAN BREAD THAT US MEXICANS MAKE THEY ARE JUST LIKE A REGULAR BREAD IS ALL PLAIN it dosnt have anything on it is good though u should try it

Answer 10

Merriam-Webster Collegiate® Dictionary

em·pa·na·da
Pronunciation: ˌem-pə-'nä-də
Function: noun
Etymology: American Spanish, from Spanish, feminine of empanado, past participle of empanar to bread, from em- (fr. Latin in-) + pan bread, from Latin panis ― more at FOOD
Date: circa 1922

: a turnover with a sweet or savory filling