Empanada

The other day I went about my merry way with the Interna´s doing their chores when one of the Interna´s - Eva - approached me while eating an Empanada. She offered me a bite and I took one. Quite tasty. Basically, it was cream inside a corn mixture wrapped in a banana leaf. Must have been cooked in a stove, it was good.

When I told Eva I liked it, she offered to bring me some from her home. I said that would be fabulous, so a few days later her mom brought Soli and I 3 Empanadas each. These, however, were a bit different. They were filled with cream on the inside of a corn mixture, but then they were fried in oil (I think deep fried is more accurate) and rolled in sugar. Oh my aching arteries (and waistline)! I ate one. That was enough. At least they are small. All I could think of was a deep fried Twinkie and how the oil squishes out of the empanada just like it would on a twinkie. Yeah. Dripping with oil.

So, I read a little about empanadas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empanada#El_Salvador
Not surprisingly, the term in El Salvador can be used to mean appetizer or dessert, and they have changed what used to be similiar to a pasty from the UP (nice, healthy, meaty meal) into a sweet heart attack machine.

I learned early on in my stay here that a quesadilla here is very sweet as well. Nothing like the cheese filled tortillas I´m used to in the States. But then, they do love their sweets here.