Empanada

An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry. The name comes from the Spanish and Portuguese verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. In Spain, empanadas are usually large and circular in shape and are cut into smaller portions for consumption, whereas in Portugal and South America empanadas are normally small and semi-circular (this type of empanada is also common in the province of Cadiz, Spain). Empanadas are also known by a wide variety of regional names (see the entries for the individual countries below). The empanada may have its origin in the '"muaajanat",[citation needed], the savory pastries introduced into Spain and Portugal during the Arabic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, especially the half-moon-shaped sanbusak, which is also the ancestor of the Indian samosa. Popular in some Arab countries are "muaajanat bi sabaniq maa lahm" (literally, pastries with spinach and meat). In Spain the dish is known as Galician empanada or simply empanada, whereas in Portugal it is only known as "empanada".