This is a recipe for a favorite Bolivian dish, saltenas. Pronounced “sal-tain-yas.” The recipe is contributed by Susan Montalvo-Gesser, representing her family heritage.
Salteñas are the Bolivian version of empanadas, small turnovers stuffed with meat, jelly broth, hard boiled egg and spices. Learn more about Bolivia here.
Servings: 10 salteñas
Ingredients
For the filling
- 1 lb beef , diced finely
- 5 cups beef broth
- 2 sheets gelatin (flavorless)
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ red bell pepper (or yellow), grated
- 1 chili pepper , chopped
- 6 boiled potatoes (firm consistency), diced
- 2 white onions (or red), finely chopped
- 1 small bunch flat parsley , chopped
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 6 oz. cooked peas
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 2 hard-boiled eggs , coarsely grated
- 10 black olives (pitted)
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- Salt
For the dough
- 4 cups flour
- ½ cup butter , melted
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup water (more or less), with ½ tablespoon of salt dissolved
- 1 tablespoon ground achiote
- 2 egg yolks
For the topping
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Equipment
- Dutch oven
- Stand mixer
Instructions
Filling
In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion, bell pepper and hot pepper for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add the gelatin sheets to 4 cups (1 l) of hot beef broth and stir.
Add the beef broth with the gelatin to the Dutch oven and stir.
Bring to a boil and add the meat, cumin and oregano and stir. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat.
Remove from heat and add the parsley, peas, cooked potatoes, pepper, salt and the remaining beef broth.
Stir well, cover and cook over low heat for 2 minutes.
Pour the stuffing into an airtight container and set aside for 8 hours in the refrigerator. This will allow the gelatin to sufficiently solidify the stuffing to be able to stuff it easily in the dough with a spoon.
At the end of these 8 hours, add the hard-boiled eggs and olives and mix well.
Dough
Mix the flour, sugar, butter, and achiote in the bowl of a stand-mixer.
When the dough becomes homogeneous, add the egg yolks and knead for 1 minute.
Gradually add the salted water.
Knead for 5 minutes until obtaining a smooth and firm dough.
Preheat the oven to 500 F / 300 C.
Roll the dough to ½ inch (1 cm) thick and, using a cookie cutter, form circles of about 4 inches in diameter.
Place a tablespoon of gelatin filling in each circle of dough, fold in half and moisten the edges all around with water.
Join the edges by pinching and twisting the edges to guarantee a strong seal. It is very important that the salteña sealed is very well.
Place the well-spaced salteñas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Mix the egg yolks, milk and sugar and brush the salteñas with this mixture.
Reduce the temperature of the oven to 450 F / 250 C, and bake the salteñas between 8 and 12 minutes.
Serve hot.