Sambousek is the signature Ramadan and Eid street and iftar item of Mecca and Jeddah, the Hejazi urban tradition. Crisp stuffed pastries, especially the Hejazi bayaq (puff) style, are filled with spiced minced meat, cheese or lentils. The Hejazi sambousek is distinct from the Levantine sambousek in its puff-pastry style and its specific spicing, and it is sold on every street during Ramadan, fried fresh to order.
Shatteringly crisp, flaky pastry giving way to a hot, savoury, spiced meat or cheese filling, the grease on the fingers. Eaten hot at iftar, they are the breaking-fast bite of the Hejazi Ramadan street.
The dough is a simple flour, water and oil (or ghee) dough, rolled thin, cut into half-circles, filled with the spiced meat or cheese mixture, folded into a half-moon or triangle, and deep-fried. The Hejazi puff style uses a slightly leavened dough or a layered technique that puffs in the oil. The filling must be cooled before filling, or the pastry goes soggy. The seal must be tight or the filling leaks.
Variations
A cheese version uses feta or local white cheese. Some fill with spiced lentils for a vegetarian iftar.
On the Palate
Where Sambousek Saudi sits in the Saudi flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
6 steps · 45 min
- 18 min
Mix 300g flour, 3 tbsp oil, 1 tsp salt and 150ml water to a smooth dough; rest 30 minutes.
- 210 min
For the filling: fry 1 chopped onion in 2 tbsp ghee; add 300g minced lamb, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander and salt; cook until done; cool.
Watch outCool the meat filling completely before you fill — a warm filling steams inside the pastry and turns it soggy.
- 36 min
Roll the dough thin; cut into 10cm rounds.
- 46 min
Place a spoon of filling on each round; fold into a half-moon; crimp the edge firmly.
Watch outCrimp the edge firmly into a tight seal — a loose seam lets the filling leak and spit in the hot oil.
- 58 min
Heat oil to 175C; fry the sambousek 3-4 minutes until deep golden and very crisp.
Watch outFry at 175度 until deep golden and crisp — cooler oil and the pastry drinks oil and goes greasy.
- 64 min
Drain; serve hot at iftar.
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