Salteñas And Pepa's Here, And We're In Effect

NATIONAL DISH OF BOLIVIA - Salteñas

Salteñas are the Bolivian take on an empanada, filled with various vegetables and meat. It's similar to a pasty. Now I don't have a large appreciation for pasties, in fact if there are no other options I would go without. But the meat and spice concept had me intrigued. Normally sold in the morning and enjoyed as a mid-morning snack, although sellers are generally sold out by then.

It is believed (or boliviad) that Salteñas were created in the early 1900's by Juana Manuela Gorriti.  Senorita Gorriti was born in Salta, Argentina, and this is where Salteñas derive their name (woman from Salta). The Gorriti family however, was exiled to Bolivia where they were faced with extreme poverty. This is when they devised the recipe. Juana's life obviously got better and better, due to later in life she married el Presidente of Bolivia. Now I'm not saying this is a direct by product of creating Salteñas. But once you try these addictive pastries, I'm sure you'll attempt to create your own delicacy in the hope of snagging a future Head of state.



So enjoy, or as they say in Bolivia,  ¡Buen apetito!




Here is the recipe link: http://everything2.com/user/Mouesh/writeups/Salte%25F1as

Difficulty:       2 

Appearance:  4 

Taste:             4 

TOTAL:        10

I haven't had much experience enclosed pie dough made from scratch, and found the result to be slightly difficult. Well mainly the braiding effect, which as you can see I failed at.

From photos of Salteñas I have seen, they end result is a lovely whitey-brown, shiny and crispy looking pastry. Mine looked crispy and shiny, but had the nice orange hue to it. This was due to I used achiote paste instead of powder, but I liked the look of them even though they looked like something an Oompa-Loompa would eat.

One thing I didn't fail at was aroma and flavour. The juiciness of the insides of the Salteñas make it feel like your eating a pastry enclosed stew. This is apparent from the gelatin hardening the filling, and then slowly melting when cooked. This retains the juices without sending the pastry soggy. Also the flavours of the stew have a nice sweet and savoury taste with a hint of spice in the pastry. Although quite filling, they are somewhat addictive and I can understand how Bolivian Salteñas vendours would sell out by mid morning time. This is one pie that I will gladly not avoid in the future.