Prawn Empanadas

From 'The Road to Mexico' by Rick Stein

These enticing empanadas are one of the many pleasures of Mexico's Pacific coast.

Ingredients:

• For the Dough
  • 500g maize flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 95ml Salsa Huichol
  • 350ml water
• For the Filling
  • 30g butter
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 large carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 250g raw prawns (peeled weight), chopped
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
• To Cook and Serve
  • 1-1.5 litres corn oil
  • Romaine or iceberg lettuce, shredded
  • Chilli sauce
  • Sour cream
  • Small handful coriander, roughly chopped

Recipe:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the sauce and 200ml of the water. Mix, adding some or all of the remaining water until you have a soft, malleable but not sticky dough.
2. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill.
3. For the filling, heat the butter and oil in a pan. Add the carrots and onion and sweat them for 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes to reduce any excess liquid.
4. Add the prawns and stir until they have turned opaque and pink. Season to taste.
5. Allow the filling to cool completely before making the empanadas or the dough will be hard to work with – any heat makes the pastry crack and fall apart.
6. When everything is cold, divide the dough into 16 balls, then make them into discs like tortillas. Use a tortilla press if you have one, or put each piece of dough between two sheets of plastic and roll it out with a rolling pin.
7. Lay a disc of dough on half a sheet of plastic. Add a tablespoon of filling on one half, then using the plastic, fold the dough over to form a half moon shape. Press the edges to seal, then peel off the plastic and set the empanada aside whilst you make the rest.
8. Heat some oil in a large pan – the oil should be about 5cm deep.
9. Lower one or two empanadas into the oil and fry them for about 3 minutes each side. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on kitchen paper. Keep them warm while you fry the rest.
10. Serve with lettuce, chilli sauce, sour cream, and coriander.