Sata andagi

In the Shuri dialect saataa means sugar, and andaagii means something fried in oil. The dough is egg beaten with sugar until thick, folded with flour and a little baking powder, rolled into balls about 2 cm across and lowered into oil at 150–160 °C. Each ball sinks, rises, turns itself over and splits into the shape that MAFF compares to a tulip, in about four to five minutes.

Nobody has a written origin for it. Japanese Wikipedia points to the Chinese kaikoushou (開口笑), whose name means 'open mouth laughing' after the same crack, and MAFF places it among the long-keeping fried and baked sweets that Ryukyu confectioners developed under Chinese and Japanese influence. It counts as lucky, and festive versions 12 to 15 cm across turn up at weddings and in piles at betrothal gift exchanges. Funerals and memorials get stick-shaped ones.

Miyako calls its version satapanpin, and Nakayukui Shoten on Irabu draws long queues for a beni-imo one with ice cream. In Naha, Ryugu fries in view in the Heiwa-dori arcade. Upstairs in the Daiichi Makishi Public Market, Ayumi sells it until it runs out, and Matsubara-ya nearby packs mixed boxes in several flavours. Up north, the Mitsuya stand inside Michi-no-eki Kyoda sells it from the morning.