Halal Empanadas from Scratch (Taco Pockets)

When I was a kid, my elementary school would send us a monthly lunch schedule. I would excitedly survey the calendar as soon as I got home and would circle the days I wanted to buy a lunch from school. It was a treat for me, a brown kid who almost exclusively ate Pakistani food at home.

One of my favorite meals from school was called the "Taco Pocket." It was a bready pastry pocket wrap filled with salty ground beef. Fast forward 20 years and a choice to eat zabiha-only, I sat here craving that taco pocket.

I was confident I could make a tasty filling, but I was confused about the bread/dough. I got an idea of where to start—galette dough. I figured if I made a savory galette dough, I could form pocket pastries out of it and crimp the edges just like the taco pockets from my childhood.

Well. After experimenting and making the things, I realized the taco pockets were a play on empanadas. When I Googled taco pocket school lunch, images of the packaging (which was so kindly removed when it was served to us...ew) appeared and sure enough the name of the food was TACONADA, like tacos and...empanadas.

Facepalm.

Anyway. I figured it out on my own. And then I cross checked with recipes for empanadas and it's "accurate" enough to call it an empanada. So here they are, my homemade empanadas for which the filling can be switched out to anything you'd like. I recommend putting more cheese than I did. And generally, try to keep the filling kind of saucy so that it balances well with the buttery rich breading of the empanada!

Ingredients (YIELDS 4 EMPANADAS)

  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 tbsp heavy cream or milk

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil (any neutral oil works, like canola)

  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 small onion, diced

  • 1/2 lb ground beef (you can substitute with your preferred protein)

  • 1 tbsp taco seasoning

  • 1 cup shredded cheese (Mexican 4-cheese works best)

DOUGH Recipe

  1. In a large bowl, combine salt with flour. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the heavy cream/milk until it yields at least 1/3 cup of liquid.

  2. Toss the cubes of butter into the flour and begin breaking up the butter between your thumb and fingers. You need to break and mush it up to eventually yield a crumbly flour + butter mixture.

  3. Pour and work *most* of the egg + milk/cream mixture into the dough. Leave enough to use later as an egg wash on the empanadas (about 2 tsp). It’s about to get sticky!! When you cannot work the dough anymore because it’s all stuck to your fingers, use a silicone spatula, spoon handle, back of a butter knife, SOMETHING to get it off your fingers.

  4. Begin kneading the dough (with a fist). This will help to homogenize the dough. Create one solid blob. Plastic wrap this bowl and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

MEAT FILLING RECIPE

  1. Meanwhile, get a skillet or pot to cook the meat in! Heat up some canola oil (swirl it in the pan if necessary) and then toss in the minced garlic and diced onion. Sauté them until they’re golden brown (unlike in my video).

  2. Next, add in the ground beef and break the beef up into large pieces for now. Let it brown (hopefully sear a bit) and then flip the large chunks.

  3. Break up the ground beef as best you can (large crumbles are okay at this point). Then add in your taco seasoning! Mix it up and keep breaking down into small crumbles.

  4. Let this simmer for about 5-8 minutes. You can add a little bit of water (2 tablespoons at a time) during this step if you’d like the filling to be a bit more saucy.

  5. Lastly, turn off the heat and add your shredded cheese. Mix until ooey and gooey!

ASSEMBLY

  1. Preheat your oven to 375°F.

  2. On a sheet of parchment paper (or a clean kitchen cutting mat), roll out your chilled dough just to get it even in thickness all around. The shape doesn’t matter as long as you’re able to cut it into 4 equal pieces.

  3. Work each of the 4 pieces into a ball. Sprinkle with just enough flour to be able to roll it out without it sticking to your rolling pin nor to your mat/surface.

  4. Roll each of 4 pieces into a rounded rectangle, 1/4 inch thick. Place about 1/3 cup of filling in each empanada leaving a little more than 1/4 inch all along the edges. Then fold the empanada to create a pocket shaped like a semi-circle. Use a fork to press and seal the edges.

  5. Brush each empanada with the remaining egg wash. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes or until golden brown (start checking at 15 minutes).

Enjoy!

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