Destination
Arequipa
The story
The Peruvian empanada de carne is a specifically Sunday-morning bakery pastry: a half-moon of soft, slightly-sweet pastry stuffed with a rich spiced beef filling — mince cooked with onion, garlic, ají panca, cumin, olives, hard-boiled egg and raisins — then baked (not fried) until deep golden and finished with a dust of icing sugar across the top. Sold at every Lima pastelería from 8am to 11am, and at every Peruvian mid-morning snack counter. Served with a spoon of ají amarillo salsa on the side and a small glass of chicha morada. Eaten hot, with fingers, sometimes as a full breakfast on the way to work.
Method
Warm oil in a wide pan. Cook onion 6 minutes; add garlic 60 seconds. Add mince, break up, brown 8 minutes. Add ají panca, ají amarillo, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and vinegar. Cook 5 more minutes.
Off the heat, fold in chopped eggs, olives, raisins and parsley. Spread onto a plate and cool completely (hot filling melts the butter in the pastry).
In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt. Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk and pisco. Pour into the flour and mix with a fork until just combined. Turn out and knead briefly into a smooth ball. Do not over-work.
Wrap the pastry in cling film and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C. Line 2 baking sheets. On a floured surface, roll the pastry out to 3mm thick. Cut 12cm rounds (using a small plate or a large cookie cutter). Re-roll scraps once. You should get 16 rounds.
Working with each round: spoon 2 tbsp of cooled filling onto one half of the round, leaving a 1cm border. Fold the empty half over the filling to make a half-moon. Press the edges firmly. Crimp with a fork or by pinching a rope pattern with your fingertips (repulgue).
Arrange the empanadas on the baking sheets. Brush each with beaten egg. Cut a small slit in the top of each with a knife (for steam). Bake 22 to 25 minutes until deep golden.
Cool 5 minutes on a rack. Dust generously with icing sugar. Serve warm with ají salsa and salsa criolla on the side, plus a glass of chicha morada. Eaters halve each empanada and dip in the salsas.
Tips
- Icing sugar on top. This is the Peruvian marker. Not decorative — the sugar-and-savoury contrast is what distinguishes a Peruvian empanada from an Argentine one. Do not skip.
- Cool the filling completely. Warm filling melts the butter in the pastry and gives you an unshapeable, greasy mess. Cool at least 30 minutes.
- Pisco in the dough. Just a tablespoon adds a subtle aromatic note. Vodka is the practical substitute; the alcohol evaporates during baking, leaving the flavour but not the wetness.
- Bake, don't fry. Peruvian empanadas are baked, not fried. Frying gives you an Argentine empanada. The oven-baked version is lighter and flakier.
- Serve warm with ají salsa. Room temperature is fine for a snack; warm from the oven is the classical Sunday-morning experience.
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