Origins
Empanadas trace their origins to Galicia and Portugal. They first appeared in medieval Iberia during the time of the Moorish invasions. A cookbook published in Catalan in 1520, the Libre del Coch by Ruperto de Nola, mentions empanadas filled with seafood among its recipes of Catalan, Italian, French, and Arabian food. In turn, empanadas and the similar calzones are both believed to be derived from the Indian meat-filled pies, samosas. All these pastries have common origins in the Middle East and Central Asia.
In Galicia and Portugal, an "empada" is prepared similarly to a large pie which is then cut in pieces, making it a portable and hearty meal for working people. The fillings of Galician and Portuguese empanadas usually include either tuna, sardines, or chorizo, but can instead contain cod or pork loin. The meat or fish is commonly in a tomato, garlic, and onion sauce inside the dough. Due to the Portuguese colonization of Brazil and a large number of Galician immigrants in Latin America, the empadas and empanadas gallegas has also became popular in those areas.
In Sardinia, the salad cake is named sa panada (meaning "meat ball cake"), or impadas.
The dish was carried to Brazil and Indonesia by Portuguese colonizers, where they remain very popular, and to the Hispanic America and Philippines by Spanish colonizers. Empanadas in Latin America, the Philippines, and Indonesia have various fillings, detailed below.
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