Empada

Ingredients :

Crust: 4 cups all-purpose flour 12 oz margarine 3 eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 teaspoon cold water Salt Filling: 2 boneless chicken breast ½ cup green olives (chopped) ½ cup heart of palms chopped 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 chopped onion 1 tablespoon oil 2 tablespoon tomato paste Salt To baste: 1 egg yolk

How to Prepare :

Crust: Save the egg white of just one egg. Combine the yolk and remaining whole eggs with flour, margarine, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix all ingredients vigorously with the fingers for about 10 minutes or until it becomes dough while holding the bowl with the other hand. Add the spoons of cold water to the mixture to reach the dough consistency. Do not knead the dough; just squeeze it with your fingers until mixed. Pat dough into a ball and let it rest while you prepare the filling. Filling: Combine chicken breast, chopped onion, oil, salt, and 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker. Place the pressure cooker in medium-heat. Chicken is ready 10 minutes after the regulator starts to blow steam, or cook for about 30 minutes in a saucepan. Remove cooked chicken and save the broth. Finely chop chicken breast and place it in a saucepan. Add green olives, heart of palms, tomato paste and stir in 2 tablespoon of flour. Place sauce pan over medium heat and cook filling while adding broth slowly to give a paste like consistency. ASSEMBLE: Take small amounts of dough and press against the mold to line it up to a bit over the edge. Fill the mold with chicken. Make a small lid with the dough and cover the mold. Press the lid borders against the mold to seal the line crust with the cover and cut the excess off. Brush top of pies with egg yolk. BAKE: Preheat oven to 375 °F. Bake for about 25 minutes of until top becomes golden brown. Let it cool and release from molds. SERVE: Place mini pies in baking cup to serve. Note: you need 4 eggs for this recipe. Use small eggs. For the crust, you use 3 yolks and 2 whites. For basting, only the yolk. Therefore, you will have 2 egg whites left over if you do the recipe right. The 3 teaspoon of cold water should be the exact amount to give the right consistency to the crust. But with practice, you can make your own adjustments of water depending on the size of eggs and type of flour available.