Sambusas

 These are stuffed Somali dumplings which are fried in oil.  The person submitting the recipe is part of the Somali Bantu community in Lewiston.  I made these with hamburg but you could use other meat-I think I'll try chicken next, or just veggies. What makes this recipe special? The curry. It flavors the meat perfectly, as well as the small amount of veggies that are mixed in. 

The dough is a simple flour, salt, oil, water recipe. I like how it behaved under the rolling pin, very easy to roll thin. Using a plastic dumpling mold, I made about a dozen dumplings from 1/2 the cookbook recipe. There was a little dough leftover, and a little of the meat filling, but I wanted to save the leftover dough for a different project tomorrow. The leftover meat filling will be perfect in a curried omelet in the morning.

We have a small round electric fryer. It has one heat level, basically, so I just keep a close eye on the browning to see when it is time to turn the dumplings over. It's about 2 minutes a side. I learned something, while the dumplings sat silently, contemplating their swan dive into the boiling vat of oil. You see, as I fried the dumplings, it became rather warm. This made the dumpling dough rather sticky, and the little darlings did not want to release easily from the tray, to take their plunge. It was almost as if they knew their fate and were resisting at the last moment.

No worries. Toss a little flour on them, and they will gently release with a nudge. I managed to get all the dumplings fried, and served them with sour cream. Really delightful appetizer for a gathering. I plan to put a star next to this recipe! It's a keeper!