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AI-generated photograph: Five golden blistered pastry triangles stacked in a loose leaning pile on a long narrow slate board, one broken open to show spiced brown beef and green chilli inside, two lemon wedges at one end, seen from a low side angle

Home · Recipes · Beef sambusa with green chilli and cumin

Ethiopian · Soups and starters

Beef sambusa with green chilli and cumin

crisp pastry · spiced beef and chilli · lemon

AI-generated photograph

Sambusa are crisp triangles of thin pastry filled with spiced beef, onion and green chilli, sold at every Ethiopian café and made in great piles for holidays. Ours are baked rather than deep fried, so they come out light and shattering, with a lemon wedge on the side.

Contains: cereals containing gluten, as written. Gluten (the spring roll pastry and the plain flour paste, both wheat). Beef, onion, spices and oil contain none of the 14. Some spring roll pastry and filo brands also list soya or are made alongside eggs and sesame, so check the pack. Most berbere blends contain none of the 14, but check the label as some are packed alongside mustard, sesame or wheat.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus 3 tablespoons for brushing
  • 1 large onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 green chillies, finely chopped
  • 400g lean beef mince
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Half a teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon berbere (Ethiopian chilli spice blend, from world-food shops)
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • A small handful of fresh coriander, chopped
  • 12 sheets of spring roll pastry (about 21cm square), thawed if frozen
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour, mixed with 2 tablespoons water to a paste
  • To serve: 1 lemon, cut into wedges

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Let's cook

  1. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and pale gold.
  2. Add the garlic and green chillies and cook for 1 minute. Add the beef mince and turn the heat up. Break it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks, for 6 to 8 minutes, until there is no pink left anywhere and any liquid has cooked away.
  3. Stir in the cumin, cardamom, berbere and salt and cook for 1 minute more. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the coriander and spread the filling on a plate to cool completely. Warm filling makes the pastry soggy.
  4. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan) and line two baking trays with baking paper.
  5. Cut each pastry sheet in half to make two long strips. Keep the strips you are not using under a clean, slightly damp tea towel so they do not dry out.
  6. Put a heaped tablespoon of filling at one end of a strip. Fold one corner over the filling to make a triangle, then keep folding the triangle over along the strip, like folding a flag. Dab the last bit of pastry with flour paste and press to seal. Repeat to make 24.
  7. Lay the sambusa on the trays and brush them all over with the remaining oil.
  8. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, turning them over halfway, until deep golden and crisp on both sides. The filling is already cooked, so you are only crisping the pastry. Serve hot with lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Tips

  • Fold the triangles snugly with no gaps at the corners, or the filling leaks and the pastry burns there first.
  • Cool leftovers, keep them covered in the fridge for up to 2 days and reheat on a tray at 200C (180C fan) for 8 to 10 minutes until piping hot all the way through.
  • You can freeze the folded, unbaked sambusa on a tray, then bag them. Bake from frozen for 25 minutes.

Swaps

  • Fasting (vegan): fill them with 250g cooked brown lentils mashed lightly with the same onion, chilli and spices.
  • No spring roll pastry: use filo, two sheets brushed with oil and layered together for each strip.

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

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