Mexican Empanadas: Around the World in 12 Dishes

Discover how to make Mexican empanadas with your kids while exploring culture and geography through food. A fun, hands-on global learning activity from the ‘Around the World in 12 Dishes’ series!

Create delicious fish empanadas with your child as they explore Mexico virtually. A fun kid friendly recipe from the Around the World in 12 Dishes Series for kids.

Welcome to “Around The World in 12 Dishes”. It’s fiesta time!  We have now reached Mexico City in Mexico! We had started our journey the same way Phileas Fogg did in London, UK, and Stockholm, Sweden, then continued on to Moscow in Russia and via India in New Delhi reached Tokyo in Japan.

After making a stop in the exotic location of Papeete, capital of French Polynesia, we are now in Mexico.

We adore Mexican food in our home! Growing up in Colorado and then moving to Florida as a teenager it’s always been something that we could easily get so this country was a bigger stretch for us to learn something new.

We decided to take a favorite and change it into something we needed to work on. That goal was to add fish to our weekly menu more often. I must confess fish is not a favorite of my husband or mine so it takes effort to find things that we will all eat and still enjoy.

Since fish tacos are something we enjoy we decided to create our very own version of empanadas with fish! ¿Quiere pescado?

Fish Empanadas or El Pescado de Empanadas

• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 large potato diced small
• 1 cup Mexican shredded cheese
• 1/2 lb fish cubed (we used tilapia)
• Empanada Dough versions at Martha Stewart, Emerald Lagasse, Epicurious, All Recipes,

Directions

1. Saute onions, garlic and onions until golden brown.
2. Then add fish and saute until done and then add shredded cheese.
3. Once mixture is cool add to dough circle and press together to create empanadas.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole. ENJOY!

We enjoy making this recipe for salsa fresca to go with it and some delicious tortilla chips!

We had so much fun creating the empanadas together. Truthfully my daughter who just turned 6 did most of the making and I just did the hot portion for her. She was able to cut almost everything.

We learned to use a few new tools together, discussing kitchen safety first.

She learned to use the peeler, garlic press, rolling pin and dough press. She added the onions, garlic, potatoes, fish and cheese to the pan for me too. It’s amazing to see how much she has grown through our cooking adventures around the world.

She cut out the round shapes for the empanadas and filled them with the cooled filling and then pressed them in our dough maker. It’s fun to see that in Russia and India and many other countries around the world there is a version of this dish. 

She was so proud when we put her empanadas into the oven to bake. They tasted so good when we were done and I was so impressed that we all ate our fish for the day!

Next we’ll try making this baked pollock recipe with lemon garlic butter sauce.

Can’t wait to share with your the craft we created for Mexico soon. Until then please share what you were inspired to make as we learn about Mexico.

Here’s a fun site to start Learning Spanish.

Check out where we’ve traveled so far on our Cooking Around the World.

United Kingdom ~ Sweden ~ Russia ~ India ~ Japan ~ Australia ~ French Polynesia

How to join the fun!

• The only mandatory part is the dish, the rest is all up to you, we just thought it would be fun and more concrete to the kids as to why we are making a unusual dish.

• Cook a dish from Mexico: The goal is to explore this country through FOOD and activities if you wish. Make a typical dish (sweet or savoury) from the country with the kids, take photos and have fun!

• Typical dishes: Tacos, Enchiladas, Quesadillas and more.

• Print your passport: Click here to download, comes with space for a photo of the child with the dish. Here is a little cover for it if you wish 🙂

• Color a placemat: Once colored/painted or whatever other way you want to do this, you can laminate it or put it between clear contact paper to use it over and over. Great conversation piece for you and your kids. Click here to download it.

• Make a craft: you can make a country related craft with the kids [optional!]

• Fun fact: The Chihuahua is the world’s smallest dog and is named for a Mexican state.

• Share with us: Our Mexico challenge starts on October 7th and will remain open for a year, so attach a link to your blog to enter the linky party or go to the comment section and post a photo together with what you did together with your child(ren).

• Pinterest: We will add your photos to a “Around the World in 12 Dishes” Pinterest Boards (one for the dishes, one for the crafts) you will be a great source of inspiration for everyone 🙂

• Are you a blogger? Let your fans know about the challenge and grab our cute lil’ button to share it on your blog.

Please check out our partner blogs and their ideas for Mexico:
Adventures In Mommydom, Creative Family Fun, Domestic Goddesque, Here Come The Girls, Juggling with Kids, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Mermaids’ Makings, Montessori Tidbits, Mummymummymum and The Educators’ Spin On It

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