Advanced Geometry from Marta’s Cuban American Kitchen

I made way too much picadillo the other night. It wasn’t my original intention, but three out of the six of us had other things going on and so I was left with an abundance of picadillo, which is not a bad thing, per se.

As I usually do with leftover picadillo, I was intending to make some papas rellenas or perhaps some empanadas, but being a homeschooling family, even leftovers can become an opportunity for learning.

We’re right smack dab in the throes of learning geometry, and our Social Studies are currently taking us to Southern Asia…

So, instead of making the usual half-moon-shaped-Cuban-style empanadas with a regular dough, I went for creating a tetrahedron using large wonton wrappers in the style of Indian samosas. (I know. Shut up.)

A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra) is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex, but that’s not important right now. =D

I think I’ll call these Empanadosas. (Because that sounds really Cubanaso, doesn’t it?)

So try to keep up and don’t worry if you fall behind, I’m including a diagram for all of you visual learners.

EMPANADOSAS

INGREDIENTS:

Leftover picadillo
Large wonton wrappers
2 beaten eggs
Vegetable oil (for frying)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Take the large wonton wrapper and cut in in half, leaving you with two large triangles.

2. Following the diagram, fold corner A down to corner B to form a trapezoid. (=D)

3. Fold corner C down to the center to form another smaller triangle.

4. Lightly brush beaten egg on the D side.
5. Fold corner D over so that it meets corner AB.
6. Now rotate your triangle 180 degrees so that you have a pocket at the top.
7. Stuff with picadillo and brush opening with beaten egg and press together to seal.