Green plantain empanadas with cheese filling {Empanadas de verde}

These green plantain empanadas with cheese, called empanadas de verde con queso in Ecuador, are naturally gluten free empanadas made employing a green plantain dough and crammed with mixture of cheese and onions. We rarely made empanadas de verde or green plantain empanadas reception once I was growing up in Ecuador. Mainly because it was easier to go to the market and buy the plantain empanadas freshly made, already assembled, and just needed to bring them home and fry them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. These green plantain empanadas also are served at many coffee shops and restaurants. The empanadas are best eaten warm, freshly fried or cooked on a griddle, and are usually served with aji criollo, a spicy hot sauce, or tree tomato aji. The empanadas can be made small to be served as appetizers or large to be served as the main course.

Ingredients

For the green plantain empanada dough:

• 4 green plantains
• 1 egg – optional, can use some of the cooking water from the plantains instead of the egg
• 2 tablespoons of butter, room temperature – or oil
• ~ 1 teaspoon of salt

For the cheese filling:

• 1 cup of grated or crumbled cheese, can use quesillo, queso fresco, or mozzarella
• 1/3 cup finely diced white onion or scallions
• Oil for frying

Instructions

For the green plantain empanada dough:

1. Wash and peel the green plantains, take care as green plantains tend to stain clothes and cutting boards. It works best to try to to this under running cold water.
2. Cut three of the plantains in half. Keep the remaining peeled plantain during a bowl of cold water.
3. Bring water to boil during a large saucepan and add the three plantains. Cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Exact time will vary supported the greenness of the plantains.
4. Remove from heat and let the cooked plantains sit within the water they cooked in until they're cool enough to handle (but still warm), if you remove them from the warm water they will get too hard.
5. In the meantime, grate the remaining raw plantain employing a very fine grater.
6. Place the cooked plantains during a kitchen appliance and pulse until you've got a thick coarse mix. Add the egg and butter or oil, and pulse until the ingredients are well mixed and the dough is a little smoother. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mash or grate the cooked plantains and then mix them with the egg (lightly whisked) and the butter.
7. If using the kitchen appliance , remove the plantain mix and place it into an outsized bowl. Rub your hands with a touch of butter or oil, and blend within the finely grated raw plantain and ½ to 1 teaspoon of salt (adjust supported how large the plantains are and your level of tolerance for salt). Use your hands to figure the dough until you've got a smooth mix. If the dough is extremely dry or too sticky, you'll add a touch of the cooking water from the plantains – you'll likely got to this if you didn’t use an egg.
8. Form the dough into a ball and let rest during a bowl at temperature for about 15-30 minutes. You can also reserve it to use later and store within the refrigerator for twenty-four hours, but once you remove it from the refrigerator, let it rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.

To roll out/make the green plantain empanada discs:

1. As mentioned above you'll make the empanada discs by either employing a kitchen utensil to flatten the the dough into a skinny sheet. The dough can be difficult to handle, use oil on your hands and on rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking. Use a round pastry cutter mold (or round bowl or cup) to chop out round disc shapes. The size of the empanadas is up to you, I usually make them medium or small sized if I’m serving them as appetizers or sides, or large if I’m serving them as a main meal.
2. The other option for creating the empanada discs, is to shape the dough into small balls – golf size for little ones and tennis size for larger ones. Then flatten these balls of plantain dough employing a tortilla press or something flat, sort of a chopping board . You can also use a rolling pin to roll out each individual ball into a round disc – don’t worry if they aren’t perfectly round. It helps to put the dough balls in between pieces of paper (lightly greased) to stay it from sticking to the board, tortilla press, or kitchen utensil .

For the filling and assembly:

1. Mix the cheese and the onions together.
2. Place a spoonful of the cheese and onion filling in the middle on the empanada disc, fold and seal the empanada. You can also do that employing a piece of paper . To seal it correctly press the sides gently together with your fingers. You can also use a fork to assist seal the sides .
3. Let the empanadas sit within the refrigerator for about an hour, this may help them seal better. It is possible to fry the empanadas immediately, but they are more likely to open or leak while frying.
4. Heat the oil during a large frypan over medium high heat. As mentioned before, you'll deep fry them otherwise you can use just a couple of tablespoons.
5. Add the empanadas, don't overcrowd the pan, and fry them until they're golden and crispy. If employing a bit of oil you'll got to gently flip them over in order that they cook on all sides , about 3-4 minutes per side.
6. Drain the oil from the empanadas by placing them on plate lined with paper towels.
7. Serve warm with aji criollo or tamarillo aji.