I’m always looking for interesting flavour combinations that add a bit of variety. These empanadas combine paprika, cumin, green olives and raisins. The lentils used in this vegan version works perfectly and adds a great earthy flavour. The crust is light and crispy, without going overboard on fat. I just love little hand pies – everything tastes better in a crust.
Making the vegan empanada dough
The dough is fairly most, so make sure you have plenty of flour on your surface as you work to prevent sticking. Most traditional recipes use egg, hence I opted to include some mung bean egg. I will do a more detailed recipe for making mung bean egg in the future, but in short, you soak a cup of yellow split mung beans overnight in water, and blend this up with half a cup of plant milk until smooth. This will make a lot, but I’ve been using this in many recipes. You can also make a scramble with this mix.
I’ve use a 50/50 mix of wholewheat and white flour. You can go all white or all whole wheat, but you will have to adjust the liquid appropriately – whole wheat flour is thirstier.
The dough is reasonably forgiving of re-working, so roll out the offcuts to make more circles. Or, sometimes I just cut squares and avoid waste altogether.
Argentinian lentil empanadas
Equipment
- Large cookie press
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup white bread flour
- 180 g coconut milk
- 1/4 cup mung bean egg see notes, or use extra coconut milk
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the filling
- 150 g dry brown lentils about 3/4 cup
- 1 onion
- 1 stick celery
- 1 carrot grated
- 1 large red or yellow bell pepper
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tbs miso paste
- 1 tbs wine or sherry vinegar
- 1/4 cup stoned sliced olives
- 50 g raisins (about 1/4 cup
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180°C/356°F.
- Get the lentils cooking in salted water or stock. This should take about 20 minutes
- First, make the dough. Combine all the ingredients and stir until just combined. Give the dough a very quick knead. Don’t overwork the dough. The dough will be somewhat soft, but should not be sticky. Cover the dough with plastic (or put in in a sealed container, and let it rest in the fridge while you work on the filling
- Dice the onion, slice the celery, grate the carrot, and dice the sweet pepper. Mix all these veg and saute until soft. When the onions are sweet and translucent, add the garlic. Garlic gets too bitter if it browns too much IMO. Your lentils should be nearly done by now. If not, pause at this stage until they are done.
- When the garlic has been in for a minute or two, add the cumin, paprika, and oregano. Let the spices cook for 30 seconds or so, then add the drained lentils. Now add the miso, raisins, and olives, vinegar, and a splash water (about a quarter cup, depending on how moist your lentils were. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cook for 5-10 minutes. You want the mixture to be fairly dry.
- Take your filling of the heat. Ideally, let it cool for a while.
- Roll out the dough, until it is about 5mm thick. Punch out circles of about 10cm. This is bigger than most cookie cutters – I use my nutribullter cup. Put a heaped tablespoon filling in the center of the circle, fold over, and seal with a fork
- Brush the pies with a little soy milk. Bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown
Notes
Nutrition
Home smoked tofu without a smoker
This method allows you to make homemade smoked tofu without a smoker. It is quick, and easy and cleanup is effortless. You don’t even need wood chips – tea and rice will be the smoking medium
What equipment do I need?
A suitable pot or wok. I use a carbon steel wok I’ve had for years. Any cast iron pot will also work. I’d avoid stainless steel pots, as the dry heat you will be applying may damage the pot. You will need a lid that fits on the pan or wok.
- A cooling rack, metal grill, or metal trivet that you can place inside the wok. The food will rest on this grill, and you will need some space between the smoking medium at the bottom of the wok and this rack.
- Enough foil to line the wok
- Rice and tea leaves to act as a smoking medium
- How to smoke tofu
Begin by lining your pan or wok with foil. Use enough so that there is at least two to three cm (about 1 inch) excess over the edges. Add a handful of rice to the bottom of the wok, and about 3-4 teabags of tea. You can also use a few heaped teaspoons of loose leaf tea. The rice helps to regulate the burn of the tea leaves.
Position your rack above the smoking medium. I have a round steel trivet that works really well with my wok – the curvature of the wok means that there is an inch or so gap between the rice/tea mixture and the trivet. If you are using a flat bottomed pan, you will need something to lift the rack from the bottom of the pan. One option is to use an inverted foil tray with holes pocked into it.
Place the food on top of the rack. Do not let the food touch the sides of the pan, as the bits that touch the sides will burn. This is what my setup looks like at this stage. The tofu shown here is marinated, but you can smoke it plain.
Put a lid on the wok. Fold the excess foil over the lid to improve the seal. Place on high heat. After about 5-10 minutes, you will see a little smoke escaping. Reduce the heat medium. I use about a 20 minute smoking time. If you prefer a milder smoked taste, check the tofu after 10 minutes and taste a piece. If, at this stage, you feel you would like a stronger smoky taste, just check if there is still some unburnt tea before returning the wok to heat.
Tea smoked tofu
Equipment
- Wok
- wire rack
Ingredients
- 2 blocks tofu
- 1 handful rice
- 4 tsp tea
Instructions
- Press the tofu for about 30 minutes. I do this by placing the blocks between two cutting boards, and putting my nice heavy cast iron mortar and pestle on top of this.
- Slice the tofu into 1 cm / half inch slices. Baste with a marinade if using.
- Line a suitable (see notes above) wok/pot with foil, and use enough to wrap back over the lid to seal. Put the rice and tea in the bottom. Put your rack on top of this, ensuring that there is some space betweem the rice and tea mixture and the rack. Read the notes above the recipe for more details
- Place the tofu slices on the rack. Make sure the tofu is not touching the sides of the wok. Cover with the wok lid and seal with foil. You can also place a wet tea towel around edges
- Put the wok on high heat. Reduce the heat after about five minutes. Smoke for 10-20 minutes, depending on how smoky you want it. On your first attempt, you may want to start with about 10 minutes. You can always reseal the pot and smoke it again if needed.