Recipe Talk

I had been given a wonderful recipe for Chilean Sopaipillas (fried bread) made with mashed yam or pumpkin some years ago but have managed to lose it. They were incredible!! While I find a number of references to authentic Sopaipillas being made using pumpkin I can find no actual recipes using pumpkin or yam. Does anyone out there have such a recipe or know where I can find one?? Thank You!

Sopaipillas

From Doris Bard, Silver City, New Mexico

This recipe for fried bread is from The Pampa Cookbook, published in successive printings in Chuquicamata, Chile. All the recipes were donated by residents living in the mining camps of Chuquicamata and Potrerillos, with each identified with a hometown. The proceeds were dedicated to Chuqui Ayuda a la Infancia.

INGREDIENTS:

PREPARATION:

Take regular bread dough after it has risen the first time, and cut into strips about 1 inch by 3 inches.

Let rise again and fry in deep fat, like doughnuts. Serve hot with jam.

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Pumpkin Fry Bread

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup puréed pumpkin, fresh or canned

1/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Put the flour and sugar in a large bowl and add puréed pumpkin a little at a time. Blend together well and knead until the dough is soft and elastic, not sticky. Cut the dough into 4 to 6 pieces and flatten on your palms until 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and approximately 4 inches in diameter.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy skillet, add the dough pieces, and fry until puffed and golden brown on each side, turning once.

Drain on absorbent paper and serve hot with butter and syrup. Or, make smaller sizes, dust with confectioners' sugar and serve for dessert or snacks.

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Sopaipillas (eaten in Chile, Camino Austral and Central valley)

1 cup cooked pumpkin puree

2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon margarine

1 tablespoon baking powder

corn oil

In a bowl mix pumpkin puree with the sifted flour, baking powder, margarine and salt. Form into a ball, without kneading. Spread the dough with a rolling pin to 1 cm thickness. Cut the fritters into 5 cm circles. Prick with a fork.

Fry in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. Drain them on a paper towels. Serve warm with green or red peper sauce or with sweet syrup.

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Empanadas (eaten all over Argentina and Chile, in different variations)

- 1 table spoon baking powder

- 4 cups flour

- 1 egg yolk

- 1 whole egg

- 1.5 cup warm milk

- 1 cup melted shortening

- 2 tablespoons oil

- 1 teaspoon paprika

- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, cumin and oregano

- 4 onions, finely chopped

- 1 pound ground beef

- 3 hard-boiled eggs, cut in to wedges

- 20 black olives

- 40 large raisins

Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Add the egg yolk, egg, milk and shortening. Mix to make a stiff dough. Divide into 20 pieces and roll each thinly into circles.

In a frying pan heat the oil with the paprika and sauté the onions until soft. Add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, ground meat and salt. Mix with the onions. Cook over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Place 1-2 tablespoons of meat filling in the center of each pastry circle. Add the egg wedges, olives and raisins in each turnover. Fold the dough over the filling making a semicircular turnover. Wet the borders with a little milk and fold again to form a rectangle. Bake in a 200 C oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot.