Smoked Fish Pie (Empanadang Tinapa)

Empanada, a Spanish term for pie, is a delicious merienda fare that a lot of people like to eat. But there is a unique kind of pie that you can prepare for your family and friends and this one uses smoked fish or tinapa as filling. The steps in preparing this merienda involves two parts: making the piecrust and preparing the tinapa filling.

A. Making the Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp refined sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups flour
• salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 chicken egg
• Utensils:
• large frying pan
• rolling pin
• medium-sized cap of a glass jar
• 2 forks
• wooden ladle
• a pair of tongs
• measuring spoon
• cur rite (wax wrapping paper)
• aluminum mixing bowl

Procedure

1. Put flour in an aluminum mixing bowl, add sugar and salt and mix the ingredients thoroughly with the help of two forks.
2. Add butter into the flour mixture. Mix ingredients thoroughly again until the butter and flour mixture becomes creamy.
3. Add egg and mix thoroughly again.
4. Add water gradually and mix ingredients thoroughly again.
5. After mixing the ingredients very well, shape the dough into a ball
6. Wrap the ball-shaped dough in wax paper (cut rite) and set it aside in a cool place or place the dough in the refrigerator. The dough will serve as the crust of the smoked fish pie.

B. Preparing the Tinapa Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 cup smoked fish, shredded
• 1 pc medium-sized potato, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 small can red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 small can green peas (guisantes)
• 1 head of garlic, crushed
• cooking oil
• black pepper for seasoning

Procedure

1. Saute garlic in a small amount of cooking oil.
2. Set aside sauteed garlic in the corner of the pan.
3. Saute potatoes using a small amount of cooking oil. Stir potatoes once in a while to make sure potatoes don't stick together. Reduce heat, if necessary. Cook potatoes in this manner so as to avoid the pieces from sticking into the frying pan.
4. Mix garlic that has been set aside earlier. Stir the ingredients together.
5. Add shredded smoked fish, sliced red bell pepper and green peas.
6. Stir ingredients together until they are fully cooked.
7. Season the cooked ingredients with black pepper to taste. Stir again. This will serve as your filling for the smoked fish pie.
8. Remove pan from the stove when the filling ingredients are already cooked. Put off heat int he stove.

C. Preparing the Empanada

1. Retrieve the ball-shaped dough from the refrigerator or from the cool place you have set it aside earlier.
2. Put the dough on a clear surface of the table. Sprinkle a little amount of flour on the rolling pin as well.
3. Flatten the dough into a sheet using the rolling pin.
4. Cut thin sheet of dough into round-shaped pieces with the use of a lid or the cap of a glass jar. These round-shaped pieces of dough will serve as the wrappers or crust of the smoked fish pie.
5. Put enough amount of filling on each round-shaped piece of dough. Close the edges of the filled pieces of dough with the help of a fork. Take note of the marking imprinted by the prongs of the fork.
6. Follow the same procedure in filling the rest of the pieces of dough crust. About 9-10 peices of pie can be prepared from this recipe. Get the dough pie crusts ready for frying.
7. Fry in hot oil. Carefully place the pieces of pie into the pan. Do this one by one. This will ensure that they will not stick together whole being friend.
8. While frying, turn the pieces of pie over once in a while using a pair of tongs to make sure that both sides will be cooked evenly.
9. Remove from the pan once the crust has turned light brown. Drain excess cooking oil before serving.

source: tlrc.gov.ph, photo from casadelanonna.com