A TASTE OF VENEZUELA

 

Empanadas fresh from the frying pan.

The Spanish being spoken at a recent gathering at my house did not have the typical Andalusian accent, but a decided Venezuelan twang. Juana and Jorge, my fellow in-laws—their daughter is married to my son—who are from Venezuela, spent a couple months with me, a home base while they travelled around, getting to know Spain. They hosted an empanada party for mutual friends. My kitchen was Juana’s staging area for empanada making.

Empanadas are a favorite food in Venezuela as they are in Spain. They are made at home and served for breakfast or bought from street stalls for afternoon snacking. The biggest difference between Venezuelan and Spanish empanadas is that the Venezuelan ones are made with a cornmeal dough, while Spanish empanadas are made of wheat flour.

Juana mixes empanada dough.

Here’s what you need for Venezuelan empanadas:

• Pre-cooked white corn meal, harina de maíz blanco precocida, also known as masa arepa. This flour is gluten-free. The best-known brand is P.A.N., available world-wide—check the Hispanic section of your grocery store, in Spain as well as U.S.  (Pre-cooked corn meal is not the same as Mexican masa harina, nixtamalized cornmeal that is used to make corn tortillas.) 

• Filling for the empanadas, such as carne mechada (shredded beef, directions follow), grated cheese, cooked chicken, pork, fish, beans, etc.

• Vegetable oil for frying the empanadas. Corn oil is preferred (we could not find it locally), but sunflower (girasol) can be used.

• Accompaniments: guasacaca, a tangy avocado salsa (recipe below) for dipping and hot sauce (Venezuelan hot sauce is an interesting blend of chiles, herbs and suero, buttermilk). 

Venezuelan-Style Corn Meal Empanadas

Empanadas Venezolanas

For the empanada dough:

Makes 10 (6-inch) empanadas

1 cup water

¼ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup pre-cooked corn meal

For shaping, filling and frying the empanadas:

For patting out the dough, you will need heavy-duty plastic wrap or a clean plastic bag cut open to make a flat piece about 12-inches square. 

Oil for shaping the empanadas

2 cups carne mechada (shredded beef)

Grated cheese (optional)

Oil for frying

Guasacaca (avocado sauce) to serve the empanadas

Place the water in a mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar and salt until they are dissolved. Stir in the corn meal and beat it until the mixture is smooth and without lumps. Knead the dough in the bowl for 3 minutes. It will be very soft. Let the dough rest 5 minutes or up to 1 hour, covered with a damp cloth. 

Pat soft dough into circle.

When ready to shape the empanadas, wet hands with water and divide the dough into 8 pieces, each about 3.2 ounces. Spread a square of plastic on the work surface. Have ready about 2 cups of carne mechada, cheese or other chosen filling. 

Place 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a shallow bowl. Oil hands lightly. Take up a piece of dough. Dip one edge of the dough into the oil, Squeeze the dough to eliminate any air bubbles and roll it smoothly into a ball. Place the ball on the work surface. With the flat of the hand, pat it into a circle about 6 inches in diameter. 

Fold dough over filling.

Use a fork to mound carne mechada on one half of the dough. Using the plastic, lift the bottom edge of the circle and fold it all the way over to meet the top edge.

Pinch off excess dough.

Still using the plastic, with the fingertips press the edges of the dough together to seal them. Extra dough will be extruded around the edges. Gather it up and return it to the bowl. 

With the help of the plastic, lift the empanada off the work surface and, with an oiled finger, smooth the edges to enclose the filling. Place the empanada on another square of plastic until ready to fry. When all the pieces of dough have been used, gather the scraps and use them to make 2 or 3 additional empanadas. 

Fry empanadas in vegetable oil.

Continue patting out rounds of dough and filling them. When using a different filling, such as cheese, mark those empanadas with a thumbprint to distinguish them from the meat-filled ones. Cover the empanadas with a damp cloth.

Place oil in a skillet to a depth of 2 ½ inches (enough to just cover the empanadas). Heat it to 360ºF. Drop a small ball of the dough into the oil. The oil is hot enough when the ball bobs to the surface. Fry the empanadas a few at a time, turning them once, until they are golden-brown. Remove and drain on paper towelling. Any dough still remaining can be rolled into small balls and fried until golden. 

Serve the empanadas hot or room temperature with paper towels or grease-proof paper for wrapping them. Let guests wrap their empanadas. Serve with guasacaca for dipping.  Leftover empanadas can be stored, refrigerated, and reheated in a hot oven or in an air fryer.

Spiced Shredded Beef Filling

Carne Mechada 

Shredded beef is mixed with spicy sofrito, ready for filling empanadas. 

Carne mechada, spiced shredded beef, is used as filling for fried empanadas and for arepas, which are made of a similar dough and cooked on a griddle instead of fried. The shredded beef also centers the Venezuelan national dish, pabellón, with black beans and fried plantains.  

The beef is cooked first then combined with sofrito. You can spice up the sofrito as much as you like. The sofrito can also be used with cooked beans for a vegetarian filling for empanadas.

To make the beef filling, you need cooked and shredded beef. In Venezuela, this is usually flank steak that is simmered with onions and other aromatics until fork-tender. The cooking liquid, a well-flavored stock, gets incorporated in the sauced meat. You can use any cooked beef that is tender enough to shred or pull apart with forks. Leftover brisket or pot roasted chuck is fine. 

Pull cooked beef into shreds.

8 ounces fork-tender cooked beef flank 

1 ½ cups coarsely chopped onions

1 ½ cups coarsely chopped red bell pepper

1 cup coarsely chopped green peppers

1 red chile (optional), stem and seeds removed

3 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil 

1 tablespoon pimentón (paprika, not smoked)

1 pound tomatoes (2 ¾ cups coarsely chopped)

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon oregano

1 cup beef or chicken stock

Use fingers or forks to separate the meat fibers. You should have about 2 cups of shredded beef.

Make the sofrito rojo. Place onions, red and green peppers, chile if using, and garlic in a food processor bowl. Process until they are finely chopped. Scrape into a bowl. Add the cut-up tomatoes to the processor and chop them.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion-pepper mixture 5 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and fry 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, salt, cumin and oregano. Simmer the sofrito, stirring frequently, until tomatoes are reduced, 15 minutes. 

You will have about 2 cups of sofrito of which 1 cup is needed for the shredded beef. (Store remainder in refrigerator or freezer for another use.) 

Add 2 cups of shredded beef to 1 cup of sofrito. Stir to mix well. Stir in enough stock to make a loose mixture (½ to 1 cup of the stock). Cook on medium until liquid is reduced and meat sauce is thick. The shredded beef is now ready for filling empanadas.

Tangy Avocado Salsa

Guasacaca

Guasacaca is a tangy avocado salsa for dipping empanadas. 

This might replace guacamole in your repertoire. Vinegar gives it tang without masking the avocado flavor. It’s juicier than guacamole. Serve the salsa with grilled steak or chicken, with arepas, empanadas and tostones (fried plantains). Or as a party dip with corn chips for dipping. The salsa can be prepared in advance and refrigerated. 

Use 2 large avocados or 3 smaller ones. They should be ripe but firm. Grind one avocado with the other ingredients. Chop and add the second avocado after the mixture has been finely chopped in blender or food processor. 

2-3 avocados

1 small onion, chopped

1 firm tomato, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeño chile, chopped

¼ cup white vinegar

½ cup olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Chopped cilantro

Cut one of the avocados into pieces and place in a deep bowl (or food processor) with the onion, tomato, two kinds of bell pepper, jalapeño and vinegar. Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients until fairly smooth. Chop the remaining avocado and add to the mixture. Stir in the oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the cilantro. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve. Garnish with additional chopped cilantro.

The Spanish way with (savory) empanadas

Galician Empanada with Pork Loin.

Salamanca Empanada with Sausage (Hornazo).

Tuna-Olive Turnovers.

Empanadillas with Spinach.

Sephardic Turnovers (Burekas.)

Empanada of Tuna with Tomato.