Black Bean and Mango Empanadas

I had a great time cooking with Dori and Sammy last night!  I had been wanting to try making empanadas.  I love sweet empanadas which are mainly what you find around here at Mexican bakeries.  Carl found some guava filled empanadas at Panaderia Chuy that were fabulous!  In Argentina, they eat more savory-type empanadas. Most of the time they have meat in them but I found some that were filled with veggies or cheese.  My favorite are stuffed with Roquefort, walnuts and celery.
Anyway, so I looked up some simple recipes for veggie empanadas and found one the was perfect.  The filling consisted of black beans, onions, mango (which I just happened to have), cilantro and lots of spices.  I'll definitely use the recipe in the future just to make black beans.  We cheated and use puff pastry for the dough. I am all about taking advantage of pre-made pie crusts dough, filo dough, etc.

Black Bean Mango Empanadas
Yields 12

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed, drained
• 1-1/2 cups finely chopped mango
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

Directions:

1.                        Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over  medium-high heat.

2.                       Add onions and cook, stirring often, until softened. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, oregano, and cayenne and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

3.                        Add black beans and mango and season with salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring, until black beans are heated through then remove from heat and let mixture cool completely. Stir in cilantro.

4.                        Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

5.                        Lay out a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out until it is about 1/16-inch thick and about 12 inches by 16 inches.

6.                        Place a couple tablespoons of black bean filling on each square. Dip your index finger into the water and moisten the edges of the puff pastry.

7.                        Fold each square in half to form a triangle. Use the back of a fork to press and seal the edges of each empanda.

8.         Lightly brush the tops of the empanadas with oil and place on a large baking sheet. Bake about 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy

Notes:
1.  We made six large empanadas instead of twelve little ones.
2.  We also tried to make the empanadas look "more authentic" by cutting out circles in the dough so that when it is folded over it looks more like a half-circle than a triangle.  Probably easier to do it as the recipe describes.  I did find instructions on how to fold empanadas on the Puff Pastry website.
3.  I served them with Central Market's bulk regular salsa and avocado tomatillo sauce which are excellent!