Mushroom Cheese Empanadas

How to make them

Ingredients

300g white flour

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

60g apple sauce

4 tablespoons soy margarine, in 1cm cubes

1 minced clove garlic

120g cooked black beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 chopped onion

2 chopped bananas (or peppers, spinach or corn)

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Non-stick cooking spray

Spicy tomato salsa, for dipping

Directions

Sift the flour with the chilli powder and salt. Add the margarine, rubbing it with your fingers until it is like fine breadcrumbs. Whisk the vinegar, apple sauce and 70ml water together in another bowl, then add this mixture to the flour mixture, combining it until you get a dough.

Add more water if need be but add it slowly. Knead the dough then form it into a ball, cover it in cling-film and put it in the fridge overnight or for an least an hour. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and beans, turn the heat down to medium and cook them for 3 minutes. Stir in the cumin, ground coriander, cayenne pepper and bananas and cook for a couple more minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the hot pepper sauce and fresh coriander.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Spray the cooking spray on a baking sheet and roll out each dough ball to a 15cm round which is 1/2 cm thick on a lightly floured chopping board. Fill each one with 2 tablespoons of the filling and brush water on the pastry edges.

Fold the dough circles in half and crimp the edges with a fork to seal them. Put them on the baking sheet and chill them for 20 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Bake the vegan empanadas for 20 minutes then let them cool for 5 minutes before you serve them. You can serve some salsa for dipping with these vegan enchiladas if you want.