Saltena

Lizet Bowen’s chicken salteñas enclose a chilled, gelatin-set filling in a sweet dough. This selected version uses lard in the dough and shredded chicken with onion, green bell pepper, parsley, raisins and chopped hard-boiled eggs in the filling.

Chicken breast boils in water, then cools and is shredded. The broth is strained and three cups are reserved. In the cleaned pot, onion, green pepper, garlic and parsley sauté, with habanero when used. The chicken, its reserved broth, raisins, seasonings and the optional peas and diced potato simmer together. Gelatin is mixed with its own small portion of water, added after the bay leaf is removed, and cooked briefly. The filling cools, receives the chopped eggs and chills in an airtight container.

Flour, sugar, salt, optional urucú, an egg yolk and lard are mixed with water. The dough is kneaded on a floured surface and rests beneath a damp cloth, then is divided into twenty portions. Each portion is rounded, rested on parchment beneath the cloth and rolled into a disc on the floured surface. The discs chill in an airtight container.

Only a few discs and some filling are taken from the refrigerator at a time. Floury edges may be moistened with water before filling. Each disc receives filling and, if used, a green olive. The edges are pressed together, the trapped air is released and the seal is folded and pressed along its length.

The salteñas stand seal-side up on a greased tray with space between them. Their surface is brushed with the saved egg white mixed with water, then they bake for twenty minutes at 245°C and are served hot. This version selects the banana batido from Bowen’s suggested fruit-shake accompaniments.