Papeda or bubur sagu, is sago

Sago

Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...

 congee

Congee

Congee is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries. It can be eaten alone or served with a side dish. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation...

, the staple food of native people in Maluku

Maluku Islands

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...

 and Papua. It is commonly found in eastern Indonesia, as the counterpart of central and western Indonesian cuisines that favour rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 as their staple food.

Papeda is made from sago flour. The Papuan natives acquire the flour by cutting the trunk of a sago tree in half, and scraping the inner parts of the trunk. The trunk pulp is then squeezed to extract the carbohydrate

Carbohydrate

A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...

-rich essence. The sago flour is usually stored in a container called tumang. Sago trees are suitable for extracting between the ages of three to five years.

Papeda is made by cooking sago flour with water and stirring until it coagulates. It has a glue-like consistency and texture. Papeda is usually eaten with yellow soup made from tuna

Tuna

Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...

 or mubara fish spiced with turmeric

Turmeric

Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...

 and lime

Lime (fruit)

Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and...

.

There are similar dish in Malaysia and Brunei, where it is called Linut, one of the Melanau cuisine in the East Malaysia state of Sarawak

Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...

, and Ambuyat

Ambuyat

Ambuyat is a Bruneian dish derived from the interior trunk of the sago palm. It is a starchy bland substance, similar to tapioca starch. The Ambuyat is also one of the famous delicacy for the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak....

, in Brunei.