Baked "Panada", Indonesian Fish Empanada

As Europe's district for ages, my country's culture and cuisines are highly influenced by the colonialists. And here's one of their effect that nowadays reckoned as Celebes' origin: the bread puff stuffed with tuna, Panada. Baked those good puffs for iftar savory appetizer last week, and it was really enjoyable :)

Seeking for spices, years ago, Portuguese was the first foreigner that came to Indonesia. Their coming then continued to occupying for almost 70 years, that left many influences regarding how people live, especially in Manado, Celebes. Shortly, Panada was born between those occupation and post-occupation period. No wonder if you catch the name, "Panada", it will remind you of "Empanada", the look alike puff pastry from Portugal.

There were some changing to meet the resources and culture in Celebes, though. For example, some Empanada are stuffed with lard, ground beef, or ground pork. Meanwhile here, if you call for Panada then it must be stuffed with fish as fish are the major commodity in Celebes. Plus, another key point of Panada is the use of coconut milk to strengthen the taste.

The comparison details between Panada and Empanada are listed on table below :)

For this Panada, I followed this recipe to make 10 puffs, with some modifications. I also added cheese for the filling and the taste blend perfectly :) The usual Panada are usually being deep fried to golden brown, however, as the tuna filling is already high in cholesterol, I opted to bake it.

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Panada
Yield: 10 Puffs
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
- Puff dough

• 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 tablespoon for kneading
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 50 ml thick coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon margarine

- Tuna filling:

• 1 canned tuna in oil (120 grams)
• 150 ml thick coconut milk
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced
• 60 grams cheddar, shredded

- Spices, grinded

• 2 fresh chilies
• 2 cayenne peppers (optional)
• 2 cloves shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 stick lemongrass, use the white part only
• 1 tomato, pureed
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1 pinch salt

Directions:

1. To make bread puff, mix flour, instant yeast, and sugar. Add in margarine and coconut milk. Add the additional flour, knead for 15 minutes or until dough no longer sticky.
   
2. Rest dough for 15 minutes, covered with clean damp cloth. After 15 minutes, re-knead, divide and shape dough to 10 balls. Cover with damp cloth and let it rise double.
   
3. To make tuna filling, heat margarine on large pan. Stir-fry all grinded spices along with sliced kaffir lime leaves. Cook until the volume reduce to half.
   
4. Mix in coconut milk, salt, and tuna (along with the oil). Simmer over medium heat while stirring occasionally. This process will take about 40 minutes until all liquid evaporated.
   
5. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
6. To shape the panada, prepare clean surface (I use parchment paper over cookie pan so the panada won't stick). Flatten ball with both palm, put on a tablespoon of tuna filling and a pinch of shredded cheddar. Fold in half, enclosed the edge with finger and fork.
   
7. Bake panadas for 10 minutes or deep fried to golden brown.