The Santa Rita Empanadas are a true blessing of chihuahuense cuisine. They are an explosion flavors, usually accompanied with a glass of horchata or a good beer. This original recipe comes from the book Las Senadoras suelen guisar (“Senators that Cook”), published in 1964, and because of that it has a certain detail that might be different from today’s modern take on the recipe.
INGREDIENTS for Santa Rita Empanadas
- 1 kg flour
- 60 gr butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- Milk
- 1 tsp anise
- 1 pinch of salt or piece of tequesquite, (tequesquite, tequexquite or tequixquitl from Nahuatl tetl, stone, quixquitl, sprouting, “Stone that comes out by itself, efflorescent”), a natural mineral salt used as a food seasoning in Mexico mainly since pre-Hispanic times.
- 400 gr butter for frying
- 250 gr sugar to sprinkle
For the Filling
- 1/2 kg ground pork
- 35 gr of butter
- 1 onion
- 50 gr raisins
- 50 gr almonds
- 1 Tb sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
INSTRUCTIONS
Add 1/8 liter of water, anise and tequesquite to a pot and let sit. Mix flour with enough milk necessary to form a soft dough. Let dough stand 2 hours. After sitting, roll dough until it is as thin as possible; cut large circles, add a little bit of picadillo (“filling”) in the center and fold to form the empanadas. Let sit for half an hour. After sitting, fry empanadas in hot butter, remove with a slotted wooden spoon and sprinkle with sugar.
Picadillo (“Filling”) Preparation
Fry chopped onion in butter; Add the peeled and chopped almonds, raisins, clove, the ground meat and the salt. Let boil until it thickens. This will be the filling for the empanadas.
Another Chihuahuense wonder: Receta. Caldillo de Filete de Res estilo Chihuahua
