Salteñas recipe

A Bolivian baked empanada whose filling is a chilli stew set with gelatine overnight, so that it melts back into broth inside the sealed pastry as it bakes.

14 hours and 20 minuteshard12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 15 g unflavoured gelatine
• 500 ml beef broth
• 500 g ground beef
• 3 tbsp ají colorado paste
• 300 g potato
• 150 g peas
• 2 onions
• 3 hard-boiled eggs
• 12 black olives
• 500 g all-purpose flour
• 200 g lard
• 1 tsp achiote (annatto)

How to make Salteñas

1. Make the jigote the day before: soften 2 chopped onions in 200 g of lard, then stir in 3 tbsp of ají colorado paste, 1 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of oregano.
2. Add 500 g of ground beef, cook 10 minutes, then pour in 500 ml of beef broth in which you have dissolved 15 g of unflavoured gelatine.
3. Stir in 150 g of cooked diced potato and 150 g of peas, simmer 5 minutes and season.
4. Pour into a dish and refrigerate overnight until the jigote sets into a firm jelly. That solid block is what turns back into broth in the oven; without it you are making a dry empanada.
5. For the dough, knead 200 g of flour with 100 g of melted lard coloured with 1 tsp of achiote, 2 tbsp of sugar, 1 egg, 200 ml of warm water and 1 tsp of salt, then rest 30 minutes.
6. Cut 12 cm discs, place 2 tbsp of the cold jigote in each with a wedge of hard-boiled egg and a black olive.
7. Close into an upright half-moon and pinch the edge into 12 to 15 tight pleats, the repulgue, making sure the seam is watertight.
8. Set on a tray, brush with beaten egg and heat the oven as high as it goes, 250°C or a wood oven.
9. Bake 15 to 18 minutes until golden and firm. Eat them standing, tip upwards, in small bites so the broth stays inside.

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