Sambuus

Ingredients

The wrappers

• 20spring roll wrappers
• or samosa pastry strips
• or 400 g plain flour
• for homemade

The filling

• 600 gminced beef
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated
• 2green chillies, chopped
• 2 teaspoonsxawaash
• or mixed ground spice
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoonground coriander
• 1 teaspoonturmeric
• chopped coriander leaf
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• salt

The paste

• 3 tablespoonsplain flour
• a little water
• to seal

To fry

• oil, for deep frying
• a deep heavy pot

Directions

1. Flour paste seals the final edge. Mix flour with a little water. Make it a thick and smooth paste. It should be much like thick glue. Cook all the liquid right off. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Add all the chopped onion to it. Cook it for about ten full minutes. The onion should soften completely.
2. Cook it properly before the meat. It should not brown much though. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli. Give them about one full minute. Add the minced beef to the pan. Break it up thoroughly with a spoon. Break up every lump as it browns. Large lumps tear the thin pastry.
3. Take genuinely real time over that. Add the xawaash and the other spices. Add them once the meat has browned. Fry them briefly in the hot fat. Give them about one full minute. Cook the filling until quite dry. All the liquid must cook away. Stir chopped coriander in at the end. Add it in off the heat entirely. It wilts and darkens if cooked.
4. Let the filling cool completely. Hot filling melts the thin pastry. Cool it right down completely first. Spread it out on a tray to cool faster. A wide tray cools it in twenty minutes. Mix the flour with a little water. Add water a few drops at a time.
5. Work it into a thick smooth paste. It should be much like thick glue. Lay a pastry strip on the bench. Cut spring roll wrappers into strips. About eight centimetres wide is right. Keep the rest covered as you work. They dry out very quickly indeed. Cover them over with a damp cloth. Work with one strip at a time. Fold one corner across to form a triangle. Fold it diagonally across the strip.
6. Hold the cone open in your hand. The cone must have a closed point. Check the point before filling it. Press it closed if it gapes at all. Spoon the cold filling into the cone. Fill it about three quarters full. Leave room to fold the flap over. Press it down gently as you fill.
7. Brush the remaining flap with paste. Fold the flap over the opening. Press it down firmly all round. Work right along the whole edge. Check there are no gaps at all. Hold it up and look at every edge.
8. Press any gap closed with more paste. Heating the oil takes real attention. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full at all. Heat it to about one hundred and eighty degrees. A deep pot of hot oil is genuinely dangerous. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all.
9. Keep children well away from the pot. Do not crowd the pot at any point. Work in small batches instead. They also need room to turn over. Turn them over for even colour. The filling only needs warming. Lift them out onto a wire rack.
10. Let all the excess oil drip away. That softens the pastry within minutes. Serve them straight from the fryer. The filling is extremely hot inside. Freeze them separated on a tray. Fry them straight from frozen. They keep for one day once fried.

Technique

• The filling must be fully cooked and completely cold before any folding, since raw filling would not cook through in the fryer — the pastry burns long before it would. It must also be cooked quite dry and holding together in a mass, since a wet filling makes the pastry soggy and bursts the samosa in the oil.
• Seal every edge with flour paste thick enough to work like glue, pressing firmly along the whole edge, and hold each one up to check for gaps. An unsealed samosa opens in the oil, spilling the filling and making the oil spit badly — one spoils a batch and makes the pot dangerous. Check the cone’s point is closed before filling too.
• A deep pot of hot oil is genuinely dangerous. Fill it no more than half full, never leave it unattended, lower the samosas in gently, keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up, never put water on an oil fire and keep children away.

Substitutions

• Spring roll wrappers cut into eight-centimetre strips stand in for samosa pastry; keep them covered with a damp cloth and work one at a time, since dry pastry cracks when folded and refuses to seal.
• Xawaash is the Somali blend of cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper, mixed differently in every household and best toasted and ground fresh.

Variations

• Break the mince up thoroughly as it browns so it is fine and even, since large lumps tear the thin pastry, and stir the fresh coriander in off the heat so it stays green rather than wilting.
• Fill each cone about three quarters full, leaving room to fold the flap over — overfilled ones burst in the oil. They freeze extremely well unfried, separated on a tray then bagged, and fry straight from frozen, which is how large Ramadan batches are made.
• The samosa travelled enormous distances with traders and migrants, and the atlas carries three in this batch alone: Somali sambuus filled with spiced beef, Comorian samoussa often filled with fish, and Burmese samusa thoke chopped into a salad entirely. Each arrived by its own route and became its own dish, recorded separately with the shared origin stated plainly.

History

The samosa, brought around the Indian Ocean by traders; in Somalia it is filled with spiced beef and fried above all for Ramadan iftar.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sambuus?

Sambuus is a street food from Somalia: crisp samosa filled with spiced minced meat, beloved during Ramadan. The samosa, brought around the Indian Ocean by traders; in Somalia it is filled with spiced beef and fried above all for Ramadan iftar.

How long does Sambuus take to make?

Sambuus takes 1 hour of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 pastries. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Sambuus?

Yes, within limits. Spring roll wrappers cut into eight-centimetre strips stand in for samosa pastry; keep them covered with a damp cloth and work one at a time, since dry pastry cracks when folded and refuses to seal. Xawaash is the Somali blend of cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper, mixed differently in every household and best toasted and ground fresh.

What is the most important thing to get right in Sambuus?

Take genuinely real time over that. Add the xawaash and the other spices. Add them once the meat has browned. Fry them briefly in the hot fat. Give them about one full minute. Cook the filling until quite dry. All the liquid must cook away. Stir chopped coriander in at the end. Add it in off the heat entirely. It wilts and darkens if cooked.