Sambusak- Samosa Saudi Style

"A samosa is a stuffed pastry  and a popular snack in South,SouthEast,Central & SouthWest Asia,the Arab Peninsula, throughout the Mediterranean(Greece), the Horn of Africa,Norht & South Africa. It generally consists of a fried or baked triangular, semi-lunar or tetrahedral pastry shell with a savory filling, which may include spiced potatoes, onions, peas, coriander, and lentils, or ground beef or chicken. The size and shape of a samosa as well as the consistency of the pastry used can vary considerably, although it is mostly triangular" - Wikipedia.

Basically in Middle East or Persian Gulf countries like Saudi, Samosa is deep fried  snack stuffed with minced meat and is known as samboosak or sambusak or sambusaj  or even sambousak.Though the term samosa originated from Persian sanbosag, the indian samosa is different from the saudi cousin in that the saudi samboosak can be  made with yeast. or in the middle east,you can make samosa as we do in India -pastry dough without leavening agents or  using simple yeasted bread dough or adding baking powder instead of yeast and even baking instead of frying. I have found a simple recipe for saudi samboosak from Saudi embassy magazine here and have adapted to get dozen plus mini sambusaks.

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour : 2 cups
Vegetable/Corn Oil: 4 tbsp
Instant Yeast: 3/4 tsp
Fennel Seeds,Poppy Seeds: 1/4 -1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp or as per taste
Water: 5+tbsp

Oil: for Deep Frying.

Filling:
Onion:1 medium size finely chopped
Capsicum: green : 1 small : finely choppped
Mushroom: 10-12 cleaned and finely chopped
Cumin Powder
Pepper:fresh ground as per taste
Salt
Paprika/Chilli powder: a pinch (optional)


Preparation:
Filling:

Heat oil in a pan,add finely chopped/grated onions and cook till transparent.Then add finely chopped capsicum and mushroom along with salt and the spice powders and let it cook till done.Keep aside.You can use as many vegetables as you want along with your choice of spice powders.Traditionally lamb /mutton /minced meat is used as a filling and I simply replaced the original recipe's meat portion with mushrooms which I had.Chickpeas also make a hearty replacement for meat and so does the soy chunks.

Sambusak:

In a big bowl, mix together flour,salt ,yeast and fennel +poppy seeds.If interested slightly roast and crush the seeds before adding to the flour.Make a well in the flour mix and add in oil and mix well till it resembles bread crumbs.You can add in more oil if needed. Add in water in tablespoons and knead to form a smooth dough.Place the dough in an oiled container and let it rise for an hour or until doubled in  size.



Now you lightly punch down the dough and roll it out into a thin circle on a lightly floured  surface.Make sure it is a bit thin than you would go for a normal samosa as it puffs up during frying.Using cookie cutters or your choice of weapon,cut into circles.You can choose any shape or size though circular is traditional. I went for 3" cookie cutter.

Normally for Indian samosas,we pinch small pieces of the dough and then roll out into thin circles and stuff them.But i prefer the above given method but  you can follow whichever you are used to /expert in.I also referenced this website/ video where sambusak recipe was demostrated.

Put 2-3tsps of filling in the centre of the circle.Fold the dough over the filling to form a half circle or half moon.

Press the edges together to seal and crimp the edges decoratively with the tines of a fork or whatever way you like. :).

Deep fry in hot oil till golden brown on both sides.Make sure the oil is on medium-low heat. On putting the pieces in oil,you can see them floating up to the surface.They have crispy shell and will puff up a bit as it has yeast.Drain on paper towels and serve with your choice of dip/sauce.

Notes: I am not an expert samosa maker. I just make the dough without adding oil and sometimes adding semolina flour and most of the time,I am left with soft soggy samosas.Also small bubbles can be seen on my samosas.The first time I tried the original recipe for sambusak,I did not add any oil at all and ended up with similar sambusaks.Not that they are inedible.They are tasty and excellent but that crispiness usually  associated with samosa was not there.A little bit of research and I found that you need to add suffiecient oil to the flour while making making the dough and this gives you crispy shells.Also the oil for frying need to be in medium -low heat else over heat may cause the bubbles to appear in the sambusaks and the insides may  not be properly cooked.

So the second time on,I tried with the said changes and ended up with much much much (I do not think perfect) better sambusaks or Saudi samosas.(If you did not see me anywhere near your blogs,blame it on sambusaks.) Thus this simple plate goes to AWED:Saudi at Kitchen Samraj,an event by DK.

I am sorry the  pics are not that great but the taste sure is.Do enjoy the sambusaks.

Sharab Al Nana

Normally the word sharab (shahraab') means alcohol in Hindi but this drink -a speciality of Saudi - is non alcoholic and is made from mint and saffron. You can use dried or fresh mint for this.Recipe wise there is nothing much as it is sugar syrup but absolutely loveable coolant.I came to know about it and have used  the recipe from here.Since I do not have much of  a "recipe"  I am adding more pics here :)

Ingredients:
Fresh Mint Leaves: 1/4 cup +/- as you like
Saffron: a pinch
Water: 2+/-  glasses/cups/bowls as how you are going to serve
Sugar: as per taste

Preparation:

In a teapot/suitable bowl mix together mint,saffron and sugar.

Boil water in a sauce pan and pour it over the mix in the teapot/bowl.

Now,put the teapot/bowl on the stove and bring to a boil preferably on low heat.I started at high flame,then reduced it to simmer and let it cook for 1-2 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve or let it sit for the flavours to steep in.

Serve garnished with fresh mint leaves -warm during teatime or cold adding icecubes which is much preferable to me any season anytime.

This simple minty drink is also going to AWED:KSA at Kitchen Samraj, an event by DK.       

     

Through the pics  you can see the colour changing to deep yellow-greenish from the saffron and the mint. Enjoy it anytime.I did adding icecubes :)

Tumr bel Nargine - Dates with Coconut from KSA

If you feel it is an out of world  dish after reading the name then you are wrong. These are nothing but simple dates cooked and stuffed with almonds and rolled in coconut and served.I was searching for Saudi recipes when I came upon this dish here.I have slightly modified it and  avoided deep frying blanched almonds but simply lightly roasted them.

Ingredients:
Dates: 1 cup
Butter: 2  tbsp
Almonds: 10 + blanched,peeled and lightly roasted

Coconut: 1/2 cup +


Preparation:
Deseed and chop the dates into small pieces.Heat a pan and melt butter in it. Add the dates to this and mmix well.Cook on medium-low fire stirring periodically so that the dates are cooked and they start to lose the shape.You can continue cooking till they resemble a paste and  stick to the pan.This is optional and I did not wait till they were completely mashed. Remove from heat and cool.

Meanwhile,blanch almonds for a minute in hotwater and then peel them.You can deepfry these peeled almonds in corn/vegetable oil. I did not and instead simply roasted almonds stovetop using a small pan.

Pinch small pieces of date dough and shape into balls.Traditionally finger shaped rolls are preferred but I went for round ones. Stuff a roasted almond with it,shape it to finish and roll it in coconut -fresh/dessicated - and serve.

This is not much of a recipe and am not even sure whether these can be called desserts as these can be consumed anytime and lets see whether Aparna accepts this as bite size desserts for SHF #69 - Bite Size Desserts, an event by the Domestic Goddess Jennifer.

 Meanwhile this visits AWED: Saudi Arabia at Kitchen Samraj, an event by dear DK.The estimate gives almost 10 date balls depending on how big they are.

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