🇪🇷 Eritrean Cuisine

Sambusa

Eritrean Stuffed Pastry

Prep Time 1 hour
Servings 6
Difficulty Medium
Calories 285 kcal

Crispy triangular pastries filled with spiced lentils or seasoned ground beef, a popular Eritrean snack and street food.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 300g ground beef or cooked lentils
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 2 jalapeños, minced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • Salt and pepper
  • Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

  1. 1 Make dough by mixing flour, salt, olive oil, and water. Knead for five minutes until smooth, rest for twenty minutes.
  2. 2 For filling, cook ground beef or lentils with onion, jalapeños, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper until done.
  3. 3 Roll dough thin and cut into strips eight centimeters wide. Place a spoonful of filling at one end.
  4. 4 Fold corner over filling to form a triangle, continue folding in flag-fold pattern to seal completely.
  5. 5 Heat oil to 175C and fry sambusas for three minutes, turning once, until golden and crispy.
  6. 6 Drain on paper towels and serve hot with a squeeze of lemon or dipping sauce.

Did You Know?

During Ramadan, Eritrean sambusa vendors set up stalls near mosques, selling hundreds of fresh sambusas for iftar.

From The Culinary Codex — http://theculinarycodex.com/dish/eritrean/sambusa-eritrean/