Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Thai Chicken Empañadas


Finally someone contributed a recipe to share! This is my fathers (Bill Walkers) creation. I have not tried it but he said it came out great so I can't wait to try it. He also said that a spring roll wrapper would be a good substitute for the empanada dough (also an easier substitute).

Dipping Sauce:
2 T. brown sugar
4 T. lime juice
1 T. Thai red curry
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup water
¼ cup shallots, chopped
¼ cup soy sauce
2 T. fresh ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Chicken Filling:
½ cup water
2 T. brown sugar
4 T. fresh lime juice
1 T. Thai red curry paste
¼ t. red pepper flakes
1 T. fish sauce
½ t. salt
2 pounds chicken thighs, skinned
¼ cup green onions finely sliced
¼ cilantro, chopped
½ cup dipping sauce (below)
Empañ ada Dough:
2¼ cup all purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 t. kosher salt
½ t. sugar
Egg Wash:

1/3 cup cold water
1 egg

1. Place all the Dipping Sauce ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. Put into bowl and set aside. Clean food processor bowl.
2. Pulse first 4 ingredients for the empañ ada dough together in food processor until crumbly.
3. Add water and egg and pulse until dough forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until needed 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350. Place the first 8 Chicken Filling ingredients in a bowl and mix until it combines into a cooking sauce.
5. Place the cooking sauce and chicken in a medium oven-proof pot, cover, and bake until the meat falls from the bones (about 1½ hours).
6. Let chicken cool. Discard bones and sauce. Coarsely chop the meat, mix with the green onions, cilantro and Dipping Sauce and set aside. Save remaining sauce for dipping the empañ adas.
7. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out until it is thin, no more than 1/8” thick. Using a 4 inch diameter cookie cutter, (I used a large martini glass) cut dough into rounds. Set rounds on a cutting board and cover with a damp towel. Re-roll dough scraps and cut more rounds. Continue rolling and cutting until most of the dough has been used. I got 18 rounds, but my dough was a little thick. I think you should be able to get 20 rounds.
Assembly and Baking:
8. Preheat oven to 400. Put about a ½ T. of the chicken mixture in the center of a round. Fold the round in half and use a fork to seal the edges. Continue until all the rounds have been filled. I had about ¾ cup of filling left.
9. Transfer the empañ adas to a baking sheet. Thoroughly mix the egg and water. Brush the tops with the egg wash and bake until golden, about 30 minutes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your dad's recipe sounds like a fun and tasty twist on the traditional empanada :). I'd like to include his recipe on our blog, please let me know if you are interested.

Sophie, Key Ingredient Chief Blogger
sophie@keyingredient.com