Mini Mexican Empanadas

These mini empanadas are great as part of a Mexican feast, and make for great party food no matter the theme. I've had the recipe for many years and am not sure of its origins.

You can cut the pastry into larger pieces and hence make fewer but larger empanadas if you wish.

The empanadas in the foreground, pictured with Old El Paso's Stand 'n' Stuff Tortillas.

Mini Mexican Empanadas

Makes approx 36

Olive oil

250g beef mince

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 small green capsicum, diced finely

200g tinned tomatoes (or 200g homemade Italian tomato sauce)

1/4 cup water

1 beef stock cube (or 1/2 teaspoon Thermomix vegetable stock)

150g tinned red kidney beans

Salt and pepper to taste

4 sheets of puff pastry (I use Pampas)

Egg for glazing

1. Brown the beef mince in a saucepan, using a little olive oil, ensuring that all lumps are broken up.

2. Add onion and cook until tender. 

3. Add garlic and chilli powder and cook for a further minute, stirring all ingredients together. You can add more chilli powder if you like your empanadas hot.

4. Add capsicum and tomatoes/tomato sauce and mix well.

5. Dissolve stock cube or vegetable stock in the water and then add to saucepan, along with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to the boil and then reduce heat, letting it simmer gently for about 30 minutes with the lid on.

6. Remove lid and let mixture continue to simmer gently for a further 15 minutes. Then set aside to cool.

7. Once mixture is cooled, add your kidney beans and mix them in.

8. Cut each pastry sheet into 9 small squares.

9. Take one square at a time, add approximately a teaspoon of the mixture to the centre, glaze edges of pastry with beaten egg, then fold in half so that you have a triangular shape. I then use the back of a fork to press the edges together.

10. Place triangles on a lined baking tray and bake in a 180 degree Celsius fan forced oven for about 20 minutes or until puffed up and golden brown. Alternatively, you can deep fry the empanadas but I prefer oven baked for this recipe.