CHILE - Hearty snacks in Santiago

And so here we were, our final stop in South America – Santiago. Again being in a big city food was available everywhere!! One of the favourites in Santiago was the good old Empanada. A wee bit different from the Argentinian and Bolivian version, the Chilean ones - apart from being folded in a different way, have spices as well as olives, raisins and a hard boiled egg.

Recipe for Chilean Empanadas -

makes 12 (from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chilean-empanada/detail.aspx)


Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground pork
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped black olives
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup shortening, melted
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, beaten

Directions
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat; cook the onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper in the melted butter until the onion is golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the ground pork and cook until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes more; drain the fat from the skillet. Stir the eggs, raisins, and olives into the mixture. Whisk the water and cornstarch together in a small bowl; pour into the skillet and stir until the liquid thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
Whisk the milk and melted shortening together in a bowl until evenly blended. Stir the flour and salt together in a separate large bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk until well mixed into a dough. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Place the dough onto a lightly-floured board and roll to about 1/8-inch thick; cut into circles with a round cookie cutter or glass. Drop equal portions of the pork mixture into the center of each circle. Fold each circle in half and press edges with a fork to seal. Brush the tops of the empanadas with beaten egg.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.


Other Chilean dishes we tried -

Carne los pobres - basically steak, chips topped with fried eggs! Dean was in heaven!

Pastela de choclo - a huge bowl of maize, chicken, minced beef, olives and cheese baked in the oven. There was no way I was finished this, it was bigger than my head!!

Italiano – basically a hot dog with avocado, mayo and tomato ketchup – the colours of the Italian flag!