Sambusa (ሳምቡሳ)
East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti) via Indian Ocean trade routes
Sambusa is the East African version of the South Asian samosa — a crisp, triangular pastry shell filled with spiced minced beef or lamb, lentils, or vegetables, fried in oil until deeply golden, sold at street stalls across Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti. The sambusa shell differs from the Indian samosa in its use of a thinner, more blistered wrapper that is folded into triangles rather than cones, and the filling emphasises local spicing (berbere for Ethiopian versions, xawaash for Somali versions) rather than Indian chaat spices. Sambusa is sold during Ramadan as a popular iftar food across East Africa's Muslim communities. The fold is the technique: the pastry strip is folded into thirds, then the cone filled and sealed with a flour paste.