Breads and snacks
Samoosas
Also known as samosas
Pastry triangles of curried mince or potato, fried in large batches for iftar and packed into the barakat parcels that guests take home.
- TraditionCape Malay and South African Indian
- Kind of dishBreads and snacks
- SeasonAll year
- OccasionIftar during Ramadan, when they are fried in quantity, and the barakat parcels guests take home after Eid and other gatherings.
The story
Curried mince or potato is the usual filling, wrapped in a small triangle of thin pastry and deep-fried until crisp, and newer versions use chicken, or cheese and corn. As one South African recipe book put it in 1979, the perfect samoosa is a neat triangle with no corner left gaping.
The samoosa is of Indian origin, and in South Africa it is made in Indian and Cape Malay homes alike. During Ramadan it is fried in large batches for iftar, the meal that breaks the day's fast. The Cape Malay cook Fayruza Abrahams writes that the women in her family meet a week before the fast to fold samoosas for the month ahead.
Samoosas also go into barakat, the parcels of leftover savouries and sweets that guests take home after occasions such as iftar or Eid.
Stories
Related reading
Sources
Check out these sources
- samoosa, n. · Dictionary of South African English (Rhodes University Dictionary Unit)
- 5 Cape Malay-inspired recipes to celebrate Ramadan · Woolworths TASTE
- 8 Cape Malay recipes for Ramadan (Fayruza Abrahams) · Woolworths TASTE
- A Guide to Cape Malay Cooking Terms: From Koe'sisters to Mavrou (Robyn Samuels) · Crush Magazine
- South Africa's heritage foods you can still taste on the road (Lee-Ann Steyn) · Getaway
