Panada — South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Panada is a fried turnover from Indonesian cuisine, filled with spiced flaked tuna or skipjack bonito and enclosed in a soft, slightly sweet yeasted dough before being deep-fried until golden. It is reported as a specialty of Manado, home of the Minahasan people in North Sulawesi, and its name is said to derive from the Spanish word pan, meaning bread — a trace of the dish's descent from the Iberian empanada and Portuguese pastel, brought to the archipelago through early trade and colonial contact. To prepare it, a yeasted dough enriched with a little sugar and oil is left to rise, then rolled and cut into rounds. The filling is made by sautéing shallots, garlic, tomato, chili and shredded cooked tuna or bonito, seasoned until fragrant, then cooled before being spooned onto each round of dough, which is folded over and sealed at the edge. The filled turnovers are deep-fried in hot oil until the crust turns deep golden and firm. Variations touch the filling and the crust: some versions make the fish mixture spicier, some use bonito instead of tuna depending on what the local catch provides, and the dough itself can be made softer and more bread-like or thinner and more pastry-like from one household to the next.