Recipe(tried): Bolivian Empanadas Saltenas

EMPANADAS SALTENAS:

This recipe is the gift of Senora de Caballero Tamayo of Bolivia, talented wife of that country's Ambassador to the United Nations. This recipe has been handed down from one generation to the next. It is generally served as a main course.

Prepare the FILLING the day or night before:

1 1/2 lbs. top round steak cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb. potatoes cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup peas
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 tablespoon aji (hot ground red pepper; see Note
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
4 cups beef consomme (hot)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

Parboil potatoes and peas separately. Brown the onion and cook until tender. Dissolve the red pepper in 1/2 cup water. Add cumin and pour into the onions. Add sugar and salt.

In a big bowl mix the drained potatoes and peas, the meat (raw), the onion mixture, the parsley, oregano, mustard, Worcestershire Sauce and the consomme in which the gelatin has been dissolved. Mix well and chill.

FOR THE PASTRY:

8 cups flour
1 lb. vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water mixed with 1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon achiote or oruco seeds (see Note)

The achiote or oruco seeds are used to color the dough, which should be a deep yellow. Fry them in 1 tablespoon of shortening and strain, reserving the colored oil. Keep it hot.

Mix the flour with the sugar. Heat the shortening and pour over the flour and sugar, adding the oil from frying the seeds. Mix thoroughly with the flour and then add the water and salt, which has been warmed. Knead until the dough is smooth. Work while everything is still warm. Cut into pieces and roll into approximately 2-inch balls. With a rolling pin, flatten the balls until you have a stack of round, very thin pastries.

Before filling the pastries have ready:

4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
4 oz. seedless raisins, soaked in water and drained
1 - 6-ounce can black ripe olives, pitted

Put a tablespoon of the filling crosswise on each pastry round, adding 1 thin slice of egg, 3 raisins and 1 olive. Moisten the edges of the pastry with water, bring the edges together and seal them, rolling them with your thumb so that the closing looks like twisted rope. The finished pastry should resemble a slightly deflated football laced from one end to the other across the top.

Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven until golden brown and serve immediately. Fifty empanadas.

NOTE: the aji and the achiote or oruco seeds may be obtained from a Puerto Rican grocery store. Cayenne pepper could be substituted for the pepper and you could use vegetable coloring for the dough.