Grown on Doug Unrau’s organic farm near MacGregor Manitoba, and milled by Adagio Acres. When we mill cornmeal, we send whole corn through our stone mill, and afterwards we sift it to get an even consistency and because we like the cornmeal to be fairly coarse. This cornflour is the finest portion that is sifted out of our cornmeal.
Most cornflour (masa) is soaked in lime as part of the process of nixtamalization, which enable it to have a gluten-like structure to help the dough hold together for things like tortillas. Because our corn flour is not processed with lime, it can be a bit tricky to work with. It works beautifully as a supplement to other flours in gluten free baking, but for traditional South American dishes like tortillas or empanadas, it can be a bit trickier.
However, Chef Gina (instagram account: tierra.madrewpg)has been working on a unique way of pre-cooking the corn dough which gives the dough a more supple texture without calcium hydroxide!!!
The dough instructions here can be used for pan fried tortillas (difficult!), deep fried for tostadas (easier), or baked for corn chips (hypothetical…but if they crumble a bit that’s probably acceptable…), or follow the rest of the instructions for Gina’s brilliant lentil empanadas
I’m not going to promise that it’s easy, but it sure makes for a fun kitchen experiment!
For the dough
1 1/3 cup of corn flour
1 cup of water
1 tsp of salt – or to taste
1 tsp of paprika – or to taste
For the filling
½ cup of green French lentils
¼ White onion
Bay leaf
1/8 cup diced white onion
Olive oil
2 Tomatoes
1 Garlic clove
¼ White onion
Cumin – to taste
Ground coriander seed – to taste
Frozen peas and carrots
2 White potatoes
Toppings: Shredded lettuce, cream, cheese and salsa
For the dough
1. Mix the flour with the seasoning and hydrate with the water.
2. Bring to the stove on medium/high heat and stir constantly for about 5 minutes or until reaches a “playdough” consistency.
3. Cover and allow to cool down.
For the filling
1. Bring to a boil and partially cook (about 70%) the lentils along with a piece of white onion and bay leaf
2. Blend together tomato, onion and garlic with about ¼ cup of water. Set aside.
3. Sautée about 1/8 cup of diced white onion, once it turns clear, add the lentils and sautée for a few minutes, add the tomato blend, cumin and coriander and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add peas and carrots and rectify seasoning.
5. Do not overcook the lentils
6. Boil the potatoes and mash them
Warm up the oil on a deep fryer or a sauce pan
Assemble the empanadas
1. Grab a piece of dough the size of a golf ball and place it between 2 pieces of plastic (this could be saran wrap, a zipper bag cut in half, etc) and press with a tortilla press or between 2 plates. Be careful to don’t go to thin.
2. Put some of the filling on one half of the circle of dough and fold the other half over it. Lightly press the edges to close it.
3. Once the oil is hot (about 350*F) slowly put in the empanada, do not let it all go in as it could stick to the bottom or deep fryer basket.
4. Cook until golden colour.
5. Serve with shredded lettuce, cream, cheese and salsa.
