Baked Vegetable Empanadas: From Galicia With Flavor

Fried or baked, vegetable empanadas are a popular dish of Galician cuisine. Find out how to prepare them with your own hands.

The empanadas vegetables in the oven are part of the culinary traditions of Galicia. These are stuffed bundles suitable for any occasion. With today’s recipe, we teach you how to make excellent baked vegetable empanadas .

Nutritious and appetizing, vegetable empanadas have a noticeable satiating effect. They are ideal for both a snack and as a main course. This recipe involves cooking in the oven.

Have you ever tried this typical Galician dish? A simple stuffed bundle can surprise your guests. Plus, vegetable empanadas are very versatile. Try them in miniature version as an aperitif: they will be perfect!

Regional variations of vegetable empanadas

The recipe for true Galician empanadas includes various ingredients, including fish and seafood. Over time, however, each area of ​​this region has made some changes. For example, the vegetable empanadas we present to you today are a simplified version of the traditional recipe.

But pasta can also be prepared in different ways. Below we list some types of pasta for empanadas among the most used.

• Durum or standard wheat flour pasta. It is a typical pasta from the Lugo and Ourense area.
• Corn and wheat flour pasta. It generally contains a higher amount of cornmeal. It is mainly prepared on the Galician coast.
• Mixed flour pasta: corn, wheat and rye. The latter cereal is added in small quantities. You can find it in the Lugo area.
• Pasta for empanadillas. Originally from South American countries, it is mainly used fried. It is made from wheat flour, egg, a drizzle of milk and a pinch of salt.

But there is one aspect that all these pastes have in common: they must be processed with great care. The result of the dough should be flexible enough to allow you to fill it.

Also, except for the last example, all doughs contain a pinch of brewer’s yeast. After introducing it in the oven, the dough will swell and be softer. If you don’t have yeast available, replace it with white wine or beer.

Ingredients for the sauté

• 1 head of fresh garlic
• 2 onions
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• To season: salt, white pepper, sweet pepper.
• Olive oil to taste

Preparation

• Pour plenty of olive oil into a saucepan and heat it over low heat.
• In the meantime, wash, peel and cut the vegetables into small pieces à la julienne. The tomato must be left aside.

• Fry the vegetables in the oil of the pan and finally add the seasoning.
• When the sauce takes shape, add the tomatoes and cook until it dries a little. In this way the sauce will acquire a delicate flavor and the onion will become transparent.
• Finally, sprinkle with the sweet pepper and mix. Leave on the fire for a couple of minutes.

Ingredients for the pasta

• 250 ml of water (1 glass)
• 500 g of flour (4 glasses)
• 100 ml of vegetable sauté oil (1/2 glass)
• 5 g of brewer’s yeast (1 tsp)
• Salt and sweet pepper for the dressing

Preparation

• Start by putting the flour in a bowl. Arrange it so as to leave a hole in the middle, where you will pour the oil for the sauté. Also add the yeast.

• Knead with your hands for about 10 or 15 minutes. The dough should have a consistent appearance but be easy to handle. Above all, avoid that the pasta is sticky.
• At this point, form a ball with the pasta, put it inside the bowl and cover. Let the dough rest for about an hour. After this time, the pasta will be ready for the preparation of the vegetable empanadas.

Ingredients for the filling

• Olive oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 onion
• 1 red pepper
• 2 small carrots
• 1 jar of 150g peas
• 1 jar of 150 g of precooked green beans
• Olives
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC
2. Separately, peel and cut the vegetables into small pieces.
3. After boiling the water in a pan, cook the vegetables. The pieces of vegetables should be tender.
4. Once cooked, drain the vegetables and put them in the pan.
5. At this point you can start filling the pasta. Spread the sautéed vegetables on the surface of each empanada. Cover it with the hard-boiled eggs cut into rounds and the olives.
6. Finally, close the empanadas as if they were a bundle and cook in the oven for 20 or 30 minutes.

Also remember that the choice of vegetables for the filling is completely personal. Try combining different vegetables to find the combination you like best. And to make your vegetable empanadas even tastier, we recommend adding other ingredients as well. They are excellent with ham and cheese.