November 8: Cooking Lesson - Empanadas

Tonight we had a real treat!  Our friend Laura from church knows that I want to learn how to make some typical Costa Rican foods so she arranged a cooking lesson with a family from church.  We met in the church kitchen and enjoyed a lesson on how to make empanadas.

Seidi first showed us how to make the corn-based dough.

The kids each made a bunch of the dough balls

While kids worked on forming the corn mass balls, Seidi sauteed finely chopped onion, celery, green/red pepper and cilantro.  She then added a pound of ground beef and some seasoning.

Time to watch the expert at work:  flattening the dough out by hand

The kids tried to follow her directions...

Sophia quickly got the hang of it and ended up making the most - this is one of her many ones with great form!  It's stuffed with the meat mixture and then fried in oil.  Unfortunately, the empanadas have fat and MSG in them but they are soooo yummy!!

Seidi's daughter Darlín (one of her 10 children!), shows the boys what to do once the empanada is fried: slit the bottom and stuff in some shredded carrot and cabbage

The empanada is topped with a Salsa Rosa (similar to a mix of Thousand Island dressing and mayo)...I think we're ready to try to make these on our own!**