Filipinos are funny about their secrets. They are also notorious gossips. So some things they divulge in a blink of the eye while other secrets they keep to their graves.
Ask a Filipino to tell you about their family history and you might hear him talk about of how an aunt of the family got pregnant at 16 with the family driver and gave birth to a child who was adopted by her mother and this child grew up as the aunt’s daughter. Or how their best friend had a one night stand with the fiancee’s best friend the night before the wedding and how nine months later the little bub looked strikingly similar to the now husband’s best friend. Confusing isn’t it? But makes for great family conversations!
In fact, Filipinos are so open about these so called “family secrets”, or most secrets in general, that my English brother in law once remarked that there are NO FILIPINO SECRET AGENTS. For the simple fact that they would have failed the psychological portion of the exam that determines how willing you are to give up super top secrets! Can you imagine a Filipino secret agent being dragged to a room to be interogated by a the CIA and before they enter the room the Filipino tells the CIA “by the way, did you hear about the little atomic bomb the terrorists in the South are looking to build?”…
BUT never ask a Filipino to share a family recipe. NEVER. They simply won’t. These are the secrets they take with them to their grave. These are the recipes that are passed on from one generation to another and another and yet another but will never be shared outside the confines of the family.
I remember in my university days a funny conversation I had with a schoolmate. She had just shared with me a very sad family problem over afternoon tea. We were having empanadas which we bought in the bakery across school. Between sobs she mentioned that the emapanadas were similar to what her aunt made and they were a family specialty. I asked if she could share the recipe with me and she replied that her mother swore her to secrecy. I found it funny how she was willing to tell me about her father’s affair with her brother’s school teacher but not willing to share the empanada recipe!
The empanadas we had that afternoon were something that I have always been meaning to recreate. They were not the typical empanadas as they were very flaky and tender and called “kaliskis” which in Filipino refers to it looking like fish scales. It took awhile before I found out how to make them but many years later here they are! Luckily for me, there is a vast resource over the internet as well as great cookbooks such Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Dumplings which details the procedure of how to make this flaky pastry which I found out has Chinese origins. Her site, Asiandumplingtips.com is an excellent resource.
The recipe for the pastry below is adapted from Andrea’s book which can be purchased on Amazon. It is a fantastic resource and if you love dumplings (which I do in all shapes, sizes and forms!), this is a must have.
The recipe for the filling is my own. I decided to use adobo flakes, salted red eggs and some mayonnaise as filling because I wanted to sure there was no mistake that this was a Filipino snack!
Flaky Pastry
Outer Dough
- 125 grams flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 15 grams lard
- 5 tablespoons warm water
Inner Dough
- 85 grams flour
- 85 grams lard, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Adobo
- 2 chicken thighs (with skin on)
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 peppercorns
- To make the outer dough, combine the flour, salt, sugar and lard in a food processor. Blend until it resembles a sandy consistency.
- Transfer the mix to a bowl and make a well in the center and add the water one tablespoon at a time. Use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients. Toss the contents to a lightly floured surface and knead for around two minutes. This should create a soft, smooth and slightly elastic dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 30 minutes. (note: you can add more flour if it feels too wet)
- For the inner dough, mix the flour and lard again in a food processor for around 10 seconds to blend the mixture. Transfer to a bowl and mix to combine. It should resemble soft cookie dough.
- Gather and pat the dough into a rough ball and place on a lightly floured work surface. Gently pat the dough and form into a smooth ball and set aside.
- To encase the inner dough in the outer dough, roll the outer dough into a 16 cm circle. Center the ball of the inner dough on top and then gently pull up and press the outer dough, pinching the ends together to completely encase the inner dough.
- Use a rolling pin to gently roll the dough into a square (Andrea uses an oblong shape but I didn’t read it properly at first and used a square!) about 21 cm wide and 31 cm long. Once done, fold the dough into thirds like a letter.
- Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll out again 21cm wide by 31 cm long, and then fold into thirds like a letter.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and let the dough rest at least 1 hour before using.
- When ready to use the pastry, roll it out into a square measuring 30cm by 30cm. Then, roll the dough from the bottom all the way to the top like a jelly roll.
- Cut the dough into 16 equal parts and to use each part, flatten the dough with the palm of your hand to make a disc, then use a rolling pin to increase the diameter of the dough.
- Fill each dough portion with mayonnaise, adobo and salted red egg.
- Deep fry the dumplings at 180c for 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and serve.
- To use the pastry, the best resource for me was this site form Corner Cafe. This site shows you the various techniques on how to fold and shape the pastry.
For Adobo
Mix all ingredients for adobo and simmer the chicken for 30 minutes. Once done, remove the chicken and cool. Once cool, shred the chicken and fry in some oil until crispy.
Special thanks to Ellie and Lorraine for teaching me to pleat!
Can the combined and cut dough be frozen and used later? Or do I need to go ahead and cook the empanadas before I freeze them?
same here.
ive been asking my kumare their recipe.she promised to give it to me but 2 kids 7yrs apart later and i still have no recipe.
my hubby did free surgery to her aunt who makes them just so she’d give me d recipe.but now,months after,still no recipe….
so thank u very much for ur generosity and kind heart.now i can try to make this kaliskis empanada.
i’ll send u photo of the finished product.
Wow Empanada’s are a lot of work! I really like them though so I’m going to try this out when I have a day to work on them haha.
[…] first time I blogged about the empanada I strayed away from the “normal” empanadas that I grew up with and made one using flaky pastry. While it was delicious, it was a bit more time consuming (it requires making two types of dough […]
I thought I have submitted my comment here….it seems I failed to do that so here goes a second attempt.
I made this following the recipe above for the dough. This is the second time I have attempted. The first one I tried was when I saw something a Malaysian foodblogger blogged about and it was curry puffs (and some Malaysians who blogged about it in their native tongue called it karipap). I tried one recipe after perusing numerous Malaysian blogs and ended up trying one with egg. While I appreciated learning the technique, the consistency was quite chewy albeit flaky. It was not what I was looking for.
So with this recipe I was hopeful because I thought maybe the lack of egg will give me the consistency I was looking for. The outcome I had for this recipe, while flaky, had too much greasy feel on my mouth.
So now I am on a third attempt using another recipe…if it would still not give me that texture and non-greasy feel like those empanadas I used to buy from Merced Bakeshop, then I will be ready to give up.
try baking them instead of frying or frying in very hot oil.
i dunno abt d egg but i heard that it’d be chewy if u knead it too long.it’ll develop the gluten my fudtek younger sister says.
I have been looking for the perfect kaliskis empanada dough… Before your post on this, I have seen them how-to’s on posts about curry puff (which Malaysian bloggers refer to as “karipap”). I tried one before that has egg, but I was disappointed…it was too chewy for me. I tried the recipe you have here, and while it was very flaky, it was a tad too oily for me (I used real, pork leaf lard, mind you, and that was something I myself rendered). My kids liked them, though. As of typing this, I am experimenting on baking some of them (which I know will make the layers/flakes less distinguishable), but at least I am hoping it would not feel too oily on my lips and tongue.
The filling itself is not a problem. I used the leftover turkey with diced potatoes/carrots, chopped raisins, and mixed with its own gravy (flavor-packed!). I just need that perfect dough…the one that hopefully will resemble the empanadas I used to buy from Merced Bakeshop…flaky yet without the oily feel.
I am ready to try another recipe…and I will not blog about any of it until I have the one closest to that what I am craving for.
Trissa, I came over here to check out your macarons, especially the Isaphan again..and I have to say.,,while on the phone, I ended up perusing through your recipes and photos, and to say I was salivating is an understatement! These empanadas look so amazing (and uber flaky), as does the butter chicken, and everything you make! Your blog is food porn to the 100th degree! 🙂
How funny. That’s amazing that certain secrets are shared but others are deemed so important to keep to your chest, forever. These look amazing. Great pleating. Maybe I need a lesson, too?
Hay naku, maraming, maraming salamat, Trissa! I have been dying to learn how to make the empanadas I remember from childhood meryendas, and now I can at least TRY! Great blog!
Hi Trissa, you are so sweet to say you like my blog. I am filipina, just like you, although filipino-american.
I tell you I would have more to share on my blog if it was not a family secret. Ah, empanadas I recall them quite well. These look delicious!
Yayy your pleating looks so good! I love how the pastry has those swirls in it, it looks so mouthwatering!
They look amazing Trissa! I saw one of these up close and they amazingly beautiful and flakey. Hehe my mum used to be like that but now she has relented 😛
I could’ve sworn you were talking about my family! 😎 The only empanadas I’ve made before used a ready-made, frozen pastry dough and an adobo filling, which at least was made from scratch. Now that I’m attempting to learn how to make Filipino food ‘properly’ (as in ‘no mixes, premade ingredients, bottles sauces, etc.’), your empanada recipe would be great to try. But I won’t hope yet that I can achieve that beautiful pattern on them at first!
[…] Family Secrets & Empanadas « Trissalicious trissalicious.com/2009/10/17/family-secrets-empanada – view page – cached Filipinos are funny about their secrets. They are also notorious gossips. So some things they divulge in a blink of the eye while other secrets they keep to their graves. — From the page […]
I love your story about Filipinos! Because the ones I know are quite secretive… but maybe it is because they are my co-workers and they don’t want to talk anything personal at work.
Your empanadas sound amazing. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I really enjoyed your story and didn’t want it to end! I’m saving this recipe too, thank-you.
Laura
How funny to know that of the Philippines! I used to work with a philipinno girl ages ago but I don’t think she was into cooking so that particular issue never came up! Love your dumplings!! They look amazing and great filling too!
Oh yeah baby, these look good!
Now I imagine that every Filipino divides their time between making amazing secret recipes and having sordid affairs! 😀
Haha, Flips are notorious gossips. My kids are learning the same from me. Interesting recipe. I’ve never seen a double layered dough before, but the rest looks like puff pastry making. Lovely. I like my empanada dough to be a little sweet.
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!
The layers of your pastry looks awesome. Ooh I’ve never had adobo, I want to try it, thanks for the recipe.
Haha, Flips are notorious gossips. My kids are learning the same from me. Interesting recipe. I’ve never seen a double layered dough before, but the rest looks like puff pastry making. Lovely. I like my empanada dough to be a little sweet.
Congrats with yr pleating success!!! they look so neat! I made the similar flaky pastry yesterday too!
The pastry looks so flaky ! and my gosh, the filling is sensational 😀
Nice to meet you guys..
Very interesting! I guess I won’t be asking my friend for recipes any time soon =D. These look delicious, I love the circle effect on the outside!
Empanada’s are the best but my mum doesnt have a secret recipe for this. I know what you mean about secret recipes. ehehehe Filipinos are so funny with them. As for family secrets ahahahaha I’ll wait till i chat to you next. I have a really funny one to tell you on how my parents ended up married at 19 ehehehhee…
Your story is so true. I guess it happens only in the Philippines if I’m not mistaken. Wow, your empadanas look great. I love the filling which is full of flavor of course the Filipino touch.
THIS IS IT! THIS IS REALLY IS IT!
Bookmarking and copying this, Trissa! You’re a genius!