Panades is one of the most common fast foods prepared in Belize. Apart from being one of my favorite foods, panades holds a special place in the hearts of many food lovers. Because I love panades so much, I decided to make an interesting graph on the anatomy of present-day Belizean panades and how they are prepared here in Belize. The graph might seem to display some controversial information but in the end panades is one of the most delicious foods you can eat here in Belize, Period!

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Belizean Beans Panades

Making Belizean Beans Panades is very simple. You can use refried beans from a can or make your own. In this video I use redi-made masa from the store and I use the masa I made from Harina de Maiz.

How to Make Belizean Fish & Beans Panades

Panades is a wonderfully delicious dish made from corn masa. It's made with fish or re-fried beans as filling.

Belizean Panades

When that Belizean food craving hits...panades is just the thing to make. Here's a delicious and easy recipe for homemade panades.

Some people might think, that’s a lot of work, or ‘I can wip up suh panades quick’ Jus chop up suh onions, geh soh masa, suh beans or fish, ah in no time, A go mek’ panades.

That true too, but Shirani shows us the Reeelll !!!, first class panades. I actually want some now.

Shirani is a creative Belizean born master cook and instructor.

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Sauce:
1/2 of a small cabbage
1 medium onion
1 serrano pepper or any pepper of your choice
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water

Filling:
12 oz tilapia fillet or any boneless fish of your choice
1 tbs oil
1/2 of a small onion
1 packet Sazon Goya con culantro y achiote

Masa:
2 lbs masa (corn dough)
1 packet Sazon Goya con culantro y achiote
1 tsp baking powder

Makes approximately 24 panades

Sazon Goya seasoning
https://amzn.to/2HhDnRp

Belizean Beans Panades | Vegan Option

Panades are one of the most common fast foods prepared in Belize.

Fish Panades | Harina de Maiz | Store Masap

The last time I made Belizean Fish Panades for the show, many of you said, you couldn't find the masa and asked how to make the masa from scratch. In this video, I'll show you how to make the masa from masa flour or harina de maiz and I'll compare to the store bought masa.

Let's Have a Panades Making Party

Making Panades with Nelly

Join Nelly in her kitchen for the BFREE Summer Cooking Series. First up Nelly will be teaching how to make Panades. Panades is a Belizean version of an empanada, consisting of a deep-fried, crescent-shaped corn flour dough filled with either white fish or beans. Traditionally served with a delicious salsa topping made from cabbage, peppers, and onions.

As empanadas are to Spain, panades are to Belize. Mini mounds of seasoned masa are pressed thin, like a tortilla, between two hand-cut pieces of plastic on both sides of the tortilladora . However, these won’t meet a comal like a regular corn tortilla. Instead, they’re filled with the likes of refried beans, hashed fish, and more unconventional fillings like cheese, chicken, and pumpkin. Pressing the edges into the shape of a half-moon, these crescents meet piping hot vegetable oil to be deep-fried.

Cooked until crisp, they’re served hot underneath a pickled onion sauce —chopped onions are seasoned with vinegar, whole allspice seeds, cilantro, and whole habanero peppers. So if you’re craving Belizean panades, it’s time to make your own with this recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1½ pounds corn masa or 2 cups Quaker® Masa Harina de Maiz mix
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon red recado paste*
• ¼ cup water
• 1½ cups fish filet, cooked, flaked
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Filling, either fish or refried beans

Instructions

Mix masa, baking powder, and salt. Dissolve recado in water and add to masa until soft and masa holds together. If using Masa Harina, follow the instructions on the package. Form into 1½ inch balls. Place a ball of masa in-between 2 sheets of parchment paper in the center of a tortilla press and flatten (Belizeans traditionally use plastic bags cut into squares). Place approximately 1 teaspoon of filling —either refried beans or fish— in the middle and fold over to form a patty. Press edges together to seal. Do not overfill, as you don’t want them to explode when cooking.

Heat oil in a large frying pan —oil is hot when small bubbles form when testing with a wooden chopstick. Fry panades until it floats, turn, and cook until slightly crisp. Serve with Belizean hot pepper onion sauce. 

Notes

When using refried beans, eliminate red recado paste from the recipe. Locally, cooks use red recado to differentiate between panades fillings. *Red recado is a Maya spice paste colored brick-red from annato seeds, or achiote. Recado rojo can be bought at Latin markets in brick-shaped packages.