Empanadas de Viento

The empanada is a popular snack in many countries across Latin America. Its name derives from the Galician word empanar, which means "to bread" or "to wrap in bread." Many former Spanish colonies, including Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, and the Philippines, have adopted it as a popular dish.

An empanada is a baked or fried turnover pastry that is made by folding dough over a filling. It can be filled with a variety of ingredients depending on where you get it, such as ground meat, potato, cheese, tomato, hard-boiled egg, raisins, and corn. There are several variations of this traditional food in Ecuador, but the most common is empanada de viento.

Empanada de viento is a fried Ecuadorian empanada filled with cheese (and sometimes onions). It may not sound as interesting as the more elaborate empanadas, but what distinguishes it is the granulated sugar that is sprinkled on top after deep-frying in oil. The combination of stringy cheese, onions, and sugar with the crispy fried pastry shell is heavenly.

If you speak Spanish, you might be wondering how this Ecuadorian-style empanada got its name. Empanadao de viento translates to "wind empanada" and refers to how these fried pastries are mostly filled with air. Apparently, no matter how much cheese you put in them, the empanada puffs up with air, so don't blame your street vendor if yours appears to have more air than cheese!

The most common type of empanada is the empanada de viento, but you can also try empanada de morocho (made with corn flour), empanada de verde (made with green plantains), and empanada de mejido (made with mejido) (made with sweet custard, cheese, and raisins).