Best Sambossa Ethiopian Appetizer Recipes

SAMBUSA

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, leek and garlic, and cook, stirring until the onions are transparent. Add ground beef, and cook until about halfway done. Season with cumin, cardamom, salt and pepper. Mix well, and continue cooking until beef has browned.
• In a small dish or cup, mix together the flour and water to make a thin paste. Using one wrapper at a time, fold into the shape of a cone. Fill the cone with the meat mixture, close the top, and seal with the paste. Repeat until wraps or filling are used up.
• Heat the oil to 365 degrees F ( 170 degrees C) in a deep-fryer or deep heavy pot. There should be enough oil to submerge the wraps. Fry the Sambusa a few at a time until golden brown. Remove carefully to drain on paper towels.

SAMBOSSA (ETHIOPIAN APPETIZER)

Steps:

• Combine all filling ingredients in heavy sauce pan.
• Bring to a boil and stir to keep smooth.
• Reduce heat to medium and let mixture simmer uncovered.
• Correct flavor for spices and salt balance.
• As water simmers away, stir often to prevent mixture from sticking, especially during final stages.
• Cook until all liquid evaporates.
• If ground meat has a lot of fat, drain off at this point.
• Let mixture cool slightly before stuffing.
• Fill won ton wrappers with 1 to 2 tsp of filling. Moisten and press the edges together in a triangle shape.
• Fry the Sanbossas, several at a time, until golden brown on both sides. Place the golden brown Sambossas on paper towel to rid of excess oil. Serve hot or cold with or without chutney.

SAMBOUSA

Steps:

• In a large skillet, brown meat. Remove the meat from the skillet.
• In the same skillet used for the meat, saute onion, garlic, carrot and green onion. When the vegetables are tender, add tomato paste and seasoning salt. Stir in browned meat.
• In a small bowl combine flour with water until a watery paste is formed. Place a teaspoon full of meat mixture in the front part of one of the strips. Starting from the right front corner, fold over to the left. You've started the triangle shape. Continue back and forth (making a triangular shape) until there is no more wrapper. Seal the wrappers closed with the flour and water mixture. Continue this process until all of the ingredients are used.
• Using oil to taste, fry the triangular packages until crisp. Delicious!

SAMBOSAS (AFGHAN MEAT TURNOVER)

Steps:

• Brown ground beef in a non-stick pan, seasoning with salt and pepper. When its just cooked through, drain on paper towels to dispose of excess grease. Return beef to pan, along with enough drained oil so it's moist, add the cardamom, cayenne, crushed/chopped garlic and the finely chopped onion. Cook until the onion & garlic is softened and spice is fragrant. Remove from heat and cool.
• To form the sambosas, take about a tablespoon (if using the small wontons, more if using the egg roll size), not too much, ensuing that you can fold the wonton over into a triangle without the filling falling out. Brush one side of the wonton with water at the edge to make a tight seal, using either your fingers or tines of a fork to do this. Make all the sambosas and keep on a sheet covered with paper towels to prevent sticking. You can do all this ahead of time and store covered with Plastic Wrap in the fridge till ready to cook.
• When ready to finish the sambosas, put a nonstick pan or pot onto med/high heat and add enough oil for shallow frying, about half to 3/4 an inch of oil should do it. Shallow fry in batches till golden brown, and drain on a wire rack or paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt and serve, best when hot but are good at room temp too. I serve them with my family's chilled yogurt sauce(see other recipe). Not healthy but delicious, even my southern wife and family loves them!
• Enjoy!

ETHIOPIAN BERBERE BEEF SAMBUSAS

Steps:

• 1. To a skillet add oil over medium heat, saute the cumin seeds and crushed bay leaves, until they become fragrant
• 2. Add the chopped onions until almost translucent. Add garlic, and ginger until flavors are released, being careful not to burn the garlic and ginger.
• 3. Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomato juices have evaporated.
• 4. Add the beef and break up with a spoon.
• 5. Add the chilis, berber spice, salt and pepper. Taste for seasonings and adjust if necessary to your taste.
• 6. Cook until the meat is no longer pink and all the moisture has evaporated, about 15 minutes or so. (NOTE: It is important that the mixture is as dry as possible.)
• 7. Spoon a bit of filling onto the end of each sambusa wrapper. Do this in an equilateral triangle shape. Then gently fold the sambusa over, keeping the filling tightly wrapped inside. Use a water and flour mixture to help glue edges. Continue until you reach the end of the wrapper. For more detailed directions, follow Sambusa Dough method written below.
• 8. NOTE: Take care not to leave holes at the corners of the triangle because that will let in too much oil.
• 9. Fry in oil over medium-high heat until golden brown. (5-10 minutes). Remove Sambusa's and drain on paper towels. Best served when hot.
• 10. SAMBUSA DOUGH DIRECTIONS:
• 11. Mix all ingredients together and knead until smooth. Dough should be soft but not sticky where dough is just moistened and comes together in a ball. You may need to add more water or flour to achieve the right consistency.
• 12. Split the dough into equal size balls. Below are two different methods for rolling out the dough, one is using a pasta machine roller and the other is by hand. If you are using a dough machine, split them into 8 small balls and if you are going to work them by hand split the dough into 4-6 larger balls, according to the size baking pan you are going to use. Let the dough relax for about 30 minutes.
• 13. 1ST METHOD - USING A PASTA DOUGH MACHINE:
• 14. Take one of the small dough balls and coat it in flour. Turn on the dough machine and put the dough through on the thickest setting (On some dough machines, this setting is listed as 1).
• 15. Then change the setting to the next thickest setting, (number 2), and roll the dough through it again.
• 16. At this point, fold in both sides of dough in order to get the dough a bit more narrow and to fit better. Then place the dough back through settings number 1 and 2, and finally 3 and 4.
• 17. If the dough becomes too long or thin for you to work with, you can cut it into 2 or 3 pieces. Also continue to coat the dough with flour while working with it so that it doesn't stick to the machine.
• 18. Cut the dough into 2 or 3 rectangle shaped pieces, about the right size for sambusa wrappers.
• 19. Trim the ends if they are uneven. Coat the dough very well with flour and place them on a baking sheet stacked about 3 high. (It's very important to make sure they are coated well with flour otherwise they will stick to each other and become unworkable).
• 20. Place these in a 200 F oven for about 4-5 minutes, or until the dough is partially dry and a bit more firm, being CAREFUL not to dry it too much so that it won't crack, but firm enough so it holds its shape when you are ready to work with it. The point is not to cook the dough, but just to get it firm and sturdy.
• 21. 2ND METHOD - WORKING IT BY HAND:
• 22. Take one of the large dough balls and coat it in flour.
• 23. Press the dough into a large circle on the table and then pick it up and stretch it between two fists gently until it grows larger.
• 24. Stretch the dough over the bottom of a flat baking sheet, trying your best to keep it even in thickness.
• 25. Let the dough relax for 5 minutes to prevent it from shrinking, then cut it into rectangle shapes, trimming off any excess to keep them as rectangle shapes.
• 26. Place the cut-outs on cookie sheets (not stacked) into a preheated 200-degree F oven for about 4-5 minutes, or until the dough is partially dry and a bit more firm, being CAREFUL not to dry it too much so that it won't crack, but firm enough so it holds its shape when you are ready to work with it. The point is not to cook the dough, but just to get it firm and sturdy.
• 27. Once you are done with the sambusa dough, coat well with flour and stack and place in plastic wrap for storage. You can leave it for a few days in the fridge or longer in the freezer until you are ready to use it.
• 28. FOLDING INTO TRIANGLES:
• 29. Once you are ready to add the filling of your choice, ready up the Sambusa dough for cooking.
• 30. Cut a 60 degree angle on one end. Then place the filling down in the shape of an equilateral triangle.
• 31. Carefully fold the triangle over, so that whatever side was pointing down is now pointing up. Continue this movement until you reach the end of the dough. Trim off any excess and if the end is too dry you can add a bit of water or water/flour mix to help it stick together so it doesn't come apart during the frying.
• 32. Makes approximately 48 sambusas.