Empanadas

I have found two things that make the world a better place: Saltanias and Empanadas. Saltanias are a morning food, similar to a sweet meet pie wrapped in a croissant rolls. They are filled with juice. The best way to judge how long someone has been in Bolivia is by how much saltania juice ends up on their clothes.

Empanadas are an anytime kind of food, but are more common in the evening. They are a sweet bread filled with cheese and then fried. Its like eating huge cheese curds and calling it supper.

I couldn’t believe my good luck when I came home one evening this week and found my host mom and aunt hard at work in the kitchen making empanadas. I jumped right in, determined to learn as much as I could in one go. The dough was already mixed up so my aunt showed me how to fill, fold and seal the empanadas.

Her’s all looked beautiful and uniform with a tiny delicate bread around the edges. Try as I might I could not get mine to look anything close to her’s. The moment I thought I had it figured out, I would mess up again. It produced a lot of good laughs as we compared her bonita (beautiful) empanadas with my feo (ugly) empanadas.

It wasn’t until we were eating that they admitted their mother sells empanadas and every mornings makes hundreds of them. My new goal is to be able to make bonita empanadas before I return to the states.