Samosas and Sambusas: What's the Connection?

[tryska]

can anyone shed some light on the connecting line between the spiced meat or potato filled pastry triangles that seem to be universal to asia and africa?

i started wondering after speaking with an Ethiopian aquaintance who was thrilled when i had made samosas for a potluck once and said they have the same thing back home called sambusas. and then another coworker from Hong Kong said he used to get these in stalls all the time back home and they were called curry puffs.

the closest i came was an excerpt from tandoorimagazine.com that goes like this:

"Writer K.T. Achaya, in his highly informative book A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, defines the samosa as "a deep-fried snack, consisting of a crisp, triangular and layery wheat casing filled with spiced meat or vegetables". Interestingly, throughout the centuries, there have been various names accorded to this snack food with its origins said to go back to the rule of the Moghul dynasty in India.

Even more fascinating is the universality of the samosa-like food both in Asia and the Middle East, where a similar looking snack is called ‘sanbusak’. In Turkey it is called ‘samsa’, in Afghanistan ‘sambosa’ and in parts of Iran as ‘sambusas’. Of course, that doesn’t include the definitions of ‘patties’ and ‘curry puffs’ in Sri Lanka and Malaysia respectively!"

does anyone have any less vague information on this intriguing universality?

and ehtiopian injera bread - i don't remember having eaten it, but is it similar to dosas? the grains are different, but the method seems the same.

Edited October 30, 2003 by tryska (log)

[Suvir Saran]

Tryska,

You have posted it all. Or at least all that I can think of.

I LOVE samosas (potato filled ones) dearly. And you should see the large child like smile I get on my face when presented with Sambussas at Ethiopian restaurants. Curry Puffs in Singapore and Hong Kong are closer to what we call Patties in India. They are superb as well. But quite different and take me back to memories of childhood in India (read days in Modern School in Delhi, where we found these patties at the canteen. We kids would each try and eat a couple of them daily).

At Amma, we make a Trio of Samosas, a tasting of pea, chicken and potato stuffed samosas. They have become quite the rage. Second only to the popularity of the Spinach Chaat.

Samosas are soul food of India. Non Indian customers have the same baby like reaction to them as our Indian patrons. They do something unique to our minds and bellies. What can I say. I could eat samosas anytime. And just about endlessly.

[Suvir Saran]

An old thread on Samosas

[Suvir Saran]

On Samosa Skins

[tryska]

interesting threads - i like the breakdown in the first one on the different Indian samosas.

I think my real question (being a former anthropology major) is the ethno-historical angle.

I just read somewhere else that Sephardic Jews also have a samosa analog. Why along the middle east, northern africa, and asia do we all have this same similar food? I can see the Spice route as one possible reason, but that doesn't necessarily account for Ethiopia and Eritrea (or does it?) and then how do Sephardic Jews come into the mix? or it could be the Mughal empire.....or perhaps it was the Mongols, and it came the other way?

either way this is an intirquing ball of string for me to play with.

Edited October 30, 2003 by tryska (log)

[Suvir Saran]

interesting threads - i like the breakdown in the first one on the different Indian samosas.

I think my real question (being a former anthropology major) is the ethno-historical angle.

I just read somewhere else that Sephardic Jews also have a samosa analog.  Why along the middle east, northern africa, and asia do we all have this same similar food?  I can see the Spice route as one possible reason, but that doesn't necessarily account for Ethiopia and Eritrea (or does it?)  and then how do Sephardic Jews come into the mix?  or it could be the Mughal empire.....or perhaps it was the Mongols, and it came the other way?

either way this is an intirquing ball of string for me to play with.

Let us know what you come up with.

Someone told me about the large numbers of Indian in Africa... those that went as indentured laborers for the rail road.

Another spoke to me about the not yet well researched but "certain" trade between India and Africa for centuries before we have any written records of sea trade.

And certainly the land trade between the Middle East and India goes back really far.

I would be delighted to learn from someone who has an anthropology major how all of this happened. Would be fascinating to learn details about this...

[jackal10]

Links between the Middle East and Africa go back to biblical times (and probably before): think of King Solomon's Mines.

There is a fascinating book by Tudor Parfitt: "Journey to the Vanished City: The Search for the Lost Tribe of Israel " that traces the origin of the Lemba tribe in southen Africa, builders of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe to a Jewish origin, a hypothesis subsequently confirmed by DNA testing.

[tryska]

hmmm..ijackal is this the book where the researcher was looking at various different tribes in different countries and their eating habits before he narrowed it down?

i remember some theory on the Lost Tribe of Israel, and the researcher looked at the Pathans, and also a tribe in South India based on the fish they chose to eat, and finally settled on a tribe in Africa itself.

I believe there was trade between Africa and Indian, i mean after all there is only a sea between the two land masses, if i recall correctly the last National Geographic i rea don the Human Genome project genetically tied certain tribes in South India to those on the coast of Africa and the Maldives.

I wonder if samosas then have far more ancient roots then anyone has thought to consider.

[tryska]

hmm..i think i've just found a good place to start my research.

The Great Silk Road

[mongo_jones]

I wonder if samosas then have far more ancient roots then anyone has thought to consider.

it also isn't completely out of the question for two similar things to develop separately in two separate places that have access to similar raw materials. which came first, the chapati or the tortilla?

[tryska]

i dunno - i mean flour tortillas and chapatis are somewhat nobrainers - but to have several cultures all come up with similarly spiced ground meat or vegetable filled triangular treats all with similar names? that's a little farfetched to me.

[bloviatrix]

I just read somewhere else that Sephardic Jews also have a samosa analog.  Why along the middle east, northern africa, and asia do we all have this same similar food?  I can see the Spice route as one possible reason, but that doesn't necessarily account for Ethiopia and Eritrea (or does it?)  and then how do Sephardic Jews come into the mix? or it could be the Mughal empire.....or perhaps it was the Mongols, and it came the other way?

either way this is an intirquing ball of string for me to play with.

It's quite understandable that Sephardic Jews have dishes similar to samosas. The Jewish diaspora spread as far east as India. The were sizable Jewish communities in Bombay and Calcutta. The Jewish community of Bagdad goes back to about 550 BCE. And there was a longstanding jewish community in Persia as well. I'm not sure when it originated.

I'm not sure if this clarifies anything, but I found this in Gil Mark's The World of Jewish Cooking:

Sambusak, which is mentioned in Iraqi sources of the tenth century, has long been the most popular pastry among the Jews of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Calcutta.  It appears to have originated in Persia and was probably introduced by the Arabs to Spain, where it was called empanda.

Edited October 30, 2003 by bloviatrix (log)

[tryska]

ahhh...so it is a silk road thing, i guess originated in persia, and then moved in both directions.

this is so interesting to me.