The first half-moons go into the oil with a sharp sizzle, and for the opening seconds you tip spoonfuls of hot oil over their pale tops until the whole surface bubbles. A few minutes later they come out deep gold, crimped edges standing up like little ropes, and the smell of cinnamon, allspice and toasted pine nuts reaches the next room. Sambousek are small fried meat pastries from Lebanon: a crisp, flaky shell made with olive oil, and inside, beef and onion cooked until dry, warmed with sweet spice and lifted by a little pomegranate molasses. They are finger food, eaten warm from a shared platter, and they disappear fast.
Half-Moons on the Mezze Table
In Lebanon these pastries turn up wherever people gather in numbers. They are a fixture at family gatherings and wedding buffets, they appear on the table to break the fast during Ramadan, and they sit among the small plates of an evening mezze. Lebanese cooks split the occasions by filling: cheese sambousek, made with Akkawi or jibneh baida, belong to the breakfast table, while the meat version waits for the evening spread. For more of the country's dishes, see the Lebanon country page.
The name is old. A tenth-century Baghdad cookbook already lists sanbusaj, and a fifteenth-century manuscript from central India names the samosa. The pastry is usually traced to Central Asia, from where it spread both west and east, and one account has a Persian sanbosag reaching the Levant along medieval trade routes. Where it was first made is not settled, but the family of names has been travelling for more than a thousand years.
How it differs from the samosa and from house to house
The Indian samosa shares that ancestry and little else at the table. It is folded into a triangle from a firm dough and usually filled with spiced potato. Lebanese sambousek are round cut, folded into half-moons and filled with meat and pine nuts, so the shape, the pastry and the filling all come from a different line.
Within Lebanon the dough itself changes with the cook. The version here rubs olive oil into flour for a short, flaky crust with no egg or milk. Other households knead a soft yeast dough with egg and milk and twist large batches into crescents for parties. Another style rubs melted ghee into the flour, rolls the pastry much thinner and fills it with lamb, finishing the edge with tiny angled pleats. Cooks also vary the crimp so the meat and cheese pastries can be told apart on the same platter.
You will see sambousek, sambusak, sambousak and sanbusak on Lebanese menus, and سمبوسة in Arabic script, which reads as sambusa. Samosa is the South Asian name for its own regional style.
Ingredients
Two things decide how these taste: the pine nuts fried first and stirred in at the end, and spices kept to a whisper so the beef stays in front.
The pastry contains wheat (gluten), and the filling contains pine nuts. The main recipe uses no egg, milk or sesame. The yeast-dough style described in the variations adds egg and milk, and the cheese filling contains milk. Check the labels of spice blends if you use one in place of allspice.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl and rubber spatula
- Skillet and slotted spoon
- Rimmed tray for cooling the filling
- Rolling pin
- 3-inch (8 cm) round cutter, or a glass with a rim of the same size
- Fork for crimping
- Tray lined with cling film
- Deep pan that holds oil at least 2 inches (5 cm) deep with plenty of room above it
- Wire rack or mesh colander for draining
- Food thermometer
Choosing and Substituting
Most of the list comes from any supermarket. Pine nuts are the one item worth buying properly: a small bag is enough, and their buttery crunch is the signature of the filling. If you cannot get them, use almonds split lengthwise; they give a firmer, sharper bite and a less rounded flavor. Pomegranate molasses lives in Middle Eastern grocers and online shops. It adds a dark, tart edge and a little shine, and when you have none, leave it out and the filling is simply milder.
Lamb is the other meat Lebanese cooks fill these with, and chicken also works in place of beef. Allspice can be replaced with an Arabic spice blend you already own, such as Lebanese seven-spice. For the dough, olive oil can be swapped for a heat-tolerant oil mixed with melted ghee. Keep the cinnamon at the measured amount: more of it makes the filling taste sweet and flat.
Toasted first and added after the heat is off, the pine nuts stay crunchy and fragrant. Stirred in raw with the meat, they soften and lose their toastiness in the pan juices.
Method
Make the filling first, because it has to be completely cold before it touches the dough; it can even be cooked a day ahead and refrigerated. While it cools, mix and knead the dough, then give it its full hour of rest, which is the main hands-off stretch. Rolling, filling and sealing go quickly once the dough is ready, and the frying itself is done in small batches.
When They Open, Sag or Go Soft
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pastries split open in the oil | Dough rolled too thin or dried out, crumbs in the seam, too much filling, or oil not hot enough | Roll to at least ¼ inch (6 mm), dust lightly, wipe the edge clean before folding, keep to 1 to 2 tsp of filling and wait for the sizzle test |
| Shell is hard rather than crisp and flaky | Oil not rubbed well into the flour, or fried short and too hot | Rub until the flour is like damp sand, and fry the full 4 to 6 minutes, turning about every minute |
| Filling makes the dough soggy | Meat not fried dry, or filling used while still warm | Return it to the pan until dry, then cool it completely before shaping |
| Dough sticky after adding water | Water went in faster than the flour could take it | Keep kneading; the dough absorbs it. Next time hold back part of the water |
| Crisp crust softens soon after frying | Pastries drained on paper | Drain on a rack or colander |
Serving, Variations and Storage
At the table
Set the platter out with the rest of the mezze while the pastries are still warm, so people can pick them up with their fingers. They sit easily next to other Lebanese small plates, and at an iftar or a family party a full tray goes quickly.
Variations
- Cheese filling: use the same dough with Akkawi or jibneh baida inside, the breakfast version in Lebanon. Change the crimp pattern so the cheese and meat pastries are easy to tell apart.
- Spinach and greens: fillings of spinach or chard, sometimes with raisins, give a meat-free and vegan version with an earthier, slightly sweet flavor.
- Baked: brush the pastries with oil and bake at 425°F (220°C) for about 15 minutes for a drier, breadier shell and less oil at the stove.
- Yeast dough: a soft dough with egg and milk twisted into crescents makes a larger party batch with a puffier, bready bite. It contains egg and milk.
- Pleated rope edge: instead of a fork crimp, fold small overlapping pleats at an angle along the edge. It changes the look, not the taste.
Storage and making ahead
Make the filling the day before and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Unfried pastries frozen solid on the tray keep in the freezer for a month or two in a bag or container; fry them straight from frozen without thawing. Once fried pastries have cooled, refrigerate them in a covered container the same day rather than leaving them at room temperature, and eat them within 5 days. Reheat them in an oven preheated to 250°F (120°C) for 6 to 8 minutes; on the day you fry them, you can also warm them in a skillet, turning them as they heat. A microwave makes the crust soft.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pastries does this batch make?
About 15 half-moons cut with a 3-inch (8 cm) cutter. Lebanese party batches made with yeast dough run to 30 or 40, which is why they are the version for weddings and big gatherings. For a mezze spread, this amount suits a small group.
Why roll the dough a full ¼ inch thick? Isn't thinner crisper?
This olive-oil dough needs the thickness to hold the filling and its seam through several minutes in hot oil. Rolled thinner, it tears and splits. The ghee-based pastry rolled to about ⅛ inch (3 mm) is a different dough built to be thin.
How do I tell meat and cheese pastries apart on one platter?
Give each filling its own crimp. Use fork tines on one and a finger-pressed or pleated edge on the other, and anyone reaching for a pastry knows what is inside before the first bite.
