A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Created by
Central-coast Veracruz empanadas built from ripe plátano macho, folded around epazote black beans or jarochos picadillo, then fried until the edges turn dark and sweet.
Veracruz, the Sotavento coast and the Afro-Mexican kitchens of Coyolillo in Actopan, is where these empanadas belong. The port brought plantain, sugar, livestock, and hard history. The women made food from it. That is how cuisine survives: in hands, not in speeches.
The dough is not masa. It is ripe plátano macho, cooked until soft, peeled while hot, and pounded until it behaves like dough. In Coyolillo and in port cantinas near Veracruz, you see the same intelligence: sweet plantain wrapped around something salty, frijoles negros refritos with epazote or a small picadillo sharpened with chile jalapeño, tomato, olive, and capers. Not every Mexican empanada uses corn. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
I learned this version from a señora outside Actopan who pressed the plantain with a wooden pestle and told me not to add flour unless the fruit betrayed me. She was right. The plantain should be mature, black-spotted, and heavy in the hand. If it is green, make tostones and stop pretending. If it is ripe, it gives you a dough that fries dark at the edges and stays tender inside.
La manteca es el sabor. You can fry in oil if you must, but the old Veracruz kitchen knows what pork fat does to plantain. It browns it properly. It gives the edge that savory finish against the sweetness. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only if you start with the right fruit.
Plantains reached Veracruz through Atlantic trade routes tied to Spanish colonial ports and the forced movement of African peoples beginning in the 16th century. Afro-Mexican communities such as Coyolillo in Actopan and the Sotavento port neighborhoods helped make plantain, yuca, malanga, coconut, and frying techniques part of Veracruz's coastal cooking vocabulary over more than 400 years. Mexico's 2020 constitutional recognition of Afro-Mexican peoples was overdue; the cuisine had already been documenting their presence at the table for centuries.
Quantity
4
black-spotted and heavy
Quantity
1 teaspoon
divided
Quantity
2 tablespoons
only if the plantain dough is too wet
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
cooled
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
1/2 small
finely chopped
Quantity
1
finely chopped
Quantity
1 ripe
finely chopped
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
Quantity
1 teaspoon
finely chopped
Quantity
1/2 pound
for picadillo filling
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
Quantity
1 teaspoon
rinsed and chopped
Quantity
2 cups
Quantity
for serving
crumbled
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very ripe plátano machoblack-spotted and heavy | 4 |
| kosher saltdivided | 1 teaspoon |
| masa harina (optional)only if the plantain dough is too wet | 2 tablespoons |
| frijoles negros refritos with epazotecooled | 1 1/2 cups |
| manteca de cerdo for bean filling (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/2 small |
| chile jalapeñofinely chopped | 1 |
| Roma tomatofinely chopped | 1 ripe |
| cilantrochopped | 1 tablespoon |
| fresh epazotefinely chopped | 1 teaspoon |
| ground beef or pork (optional)for picadillo filling | 1/2 pound |
| raisins (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| green olives (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| capers (optional)rinsed and chopped | 1 teaspoon |
| manteca de cerdo for frying | 2 cups |
| queso fresco (optional)crumbled | for serving |
| salsa de chile costeño or salsa de jalapeño asado (optional) | for serving |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
Cut the ends from the plátanos machos and score each peel lengthwise. Place them in a pot, cover with water, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, and simmer for 18 to 22 minutes, until a knife slips through the flesh with no resistance. The peel will darken and split. That is correct. You need the fruit soft enough to pound while it is still hot.
Drain the plantains and peel them while hot, using a towel to protect your hands. Mash in a wide bowl or molcajete with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt until smooth and sticky. Do not add flour at the beginning. Work the plantain first. If it is still loose after five minutes of pounding, knead in masa harina one teaspoon at a time. The dough should hold together without cracking when you press it flat.
For the bean version, warm 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo in a skillet and fry the onion until soft. Add the chile jalapeño, tomato, epazote, and frijoles negros refritos. Cook until thick enough to mound on a spoon, then stir in cilantro and let cool completely. For picadillo, brown the ground meat in the same base, then add tomato, raisins, olives, capers, and epazote. Cook until dry. A wet filling breaks the empanada. No me vengas con atajos.
Cut two squares of plastic from a clean produce bag or use a tortilla press lined with plastic. Divide the plantain dough into 12 balls. Press one ball into a 4-inch circle, place 1 heaping tablespoon cooled filling in the center, and fold the plastic over to make a half-moon. Press the edge firmly to seal. If the edge cracks, pinch it with damp fingers. The plantain is tender, so work with calm hands.
Heat the manteca de cerdo in a heavy skillet to 350F. Fry 3 or 4 empanadas at a time, turning once, until the outside is dark golden with mahogany spots at the edges, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pan. The fat temperature drops and the empanadas drink grease. La manteca es el sabor, but it must be hot enough to do its work.
Lift the empanadas onto a rack or brown paper. Let them rest five minutes so the filling settles and the plantain firms. Serve warm with crumbled queso fresco, lime halves, and salsa de chile costeño if you are leaning toward the Afro-Pacific table, or salsa de jalapeño asado for the Veracruz kitchen. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
1 serving (about 150g)
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary Explorer
Chef Lupita
The pre-Columbian ahuacamolli of the Valley of Mexico, pounded in a basalt molcajete with tomate verde, chile serrano, onion, and salt. No lime, no garlic, no shortcuts. The original guacamole, served the way the Mexica ate it.
Chef Lupita
Sonora's mesquite-grilled alambre of ribeye and arrachera with bacon, bell pepper, and onion, blanketed in melted asadero and rolled into thin flour tortillas at the rancho table.
Chef Lupita
Nayarit's palapa-style seafood alambres thread shrimp, octopus, firm fish, pineapple, onion, and peppers through a guajillo and chile de arbol adobo, then grill them over wood charcoal for a botana built to share.
Chef Lupita
Sonora's roasted chicken wings tossed in clarified butter heavy with crushed wild chiltepín, garlic, and fresh lime. Sharp clean heat, no vinegar burn, no Tex-Mex shortcuts. The desert north on a plate.