Vegan Samboosa

This is probably going to be the most lengthiest recipe I ever post. Do not let the lengthiness fool you into thinking that it means it’s hard and time consuming because this took me 30 minutes.

It’s Ramadan, which means samboosa time. I don’t know why we only make samboosa during Ramadan, but it’s one of those things that just is for no particular reason. I guess the good part about it is the fact that when Ramadan comes around you just know that you’re going to get samboosa.

Samboosa is one of those recipes that every household claims they make the best. And like many of those people, I 100% believe my household makes them the best because every other house I go to just does not match the quality of the way we make them. Every household uses a different type of dough, different type of cheese and different fillings in general. My house uses homemade dough and for the different fillings, ground beef and kraft cheese. Meat samboosa is also traditionally paired with douga (a Saudi salsa) made with pepper and tomatoes, but I have a 0 tolerance to spice so I also made my own just without the pepper.

Unfortunately, as good as samboosas are, my body just does not agree with them. They just don’t make me feel the best physically which leads into mentally not feeling the best. So, in order to make sure that I am still emotionally satisfying my love for samboosa I created this recipe that my body loves. To be honest, you could probably give me anything that looks like samboosa that my body would agree with, and I would accept it.

Point is this recipe makes my tummy happy which makes me happy and thats all that matters.

Because I don’t eat red meat… at least for now, who knows what I’ll eat in the future, I created a very easy vegan ground beef mix and used a vegan cheese for the cheese filling.

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 TBS coconut flour

1 TBS tapioca flour

1 TBS pysillum husk

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 TBS water (+ more in case)

Ground Beef:

1 cup riced cauliflower

1 cup button mushrooms

Handful of parsley

Salt + pepper to taste

optional for flavoring: coconut aminos, ground cumin, coriander, garlic, onion and paprika.

Cheese (2 options):

1. White Cheese: (obviously if not vegan or dairy free use dairy cheese instead)

1/4 cup vegan white cheese of your choice (I recommend Kitehill ricotta)

1 TBS dried mint leaves

2. Any type of vegan cheddar cheese similar to kraft cheese.

Douga:

1 medium tomato

handful of parsley

pepper and salt to taste

1 juice of a lemon

To make ground “beef”:

Throw all ingredients into a food processor, except for the “flavor” seasonings.

Once mixture resembles ground beef, place in a pan and cook as you would regular beef with your choice of seasonings. I listed some options above that can help amplify the taste.

Set the “beef” aside for the filling later. What is left over can be turned into beef patties, just add whatever flour you want until a patty shape is formed. You could also cook it in the oven at 350 F for 15 minutes to make it slightly crispy and throw it in tacos or even in a bolognese.

To make cheese filling:

I didn’t include images because if you decide to use a cheddar type of cheese all you have to do is cut in cubes.

For the white cheese. Combine the white cheese and dried mint in a bowl.

The dough:

This dough recipe is very similar to my 2 ingredient bread recipe. Follow all the exact same steps expect for the shaping. To shape and form the samboosa, once you have got your ball of dough, place it between 2 parchment sheets and roll out. Make sure it is not too thin otherwise it will not fold over the filling.

After you have rolled it out, use any circular cutter and this should make around 6 circles.

Put filling in middle (do not over fill like I did in these photos). Also just to add some people will make these more dessert-y and fill it with nutella or date paste. So if you are feeling more on the sweet side you could do that!

Fold the upper part to meet the bottom part.

With a fork create a seal around the outer edges.

Place in oven at 375 F, cook till golden. Should not take more than 30 minutes so make sure to check after 15 minutes.

The Douga:

Throw all ingredient in blender or food processor. I prefer a food processor because it’s important that it’s not fully blended. You can add chili or pepper if you do like spice, as that is the traditional way.

Now once the samboosa is cooked and ready. Serve it up with douga and maybe some soup and sahtein!