SOME dishes are indispensable on any Saudi Iftar table during Ramadan. Breakfast or Iftar begins with dates, laban and water (preferably Zamzam). This is followed by soup, Sambosa and Foul. In Makkah and Jeddah, cracked wheat soup is the traditional dish, and for some families it is the only soup they will have for breakfast during the whole month. There are several kinds of Sambosa, but in Hijaz the most popular are the puff Sambosa and the home or “braided” Sambosa.
Home or Braided Sambosa
3 cups white flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 a cup vegetable oil
Salt
1 teaspoon of a special mix of spices called “bread spice”, known at spice stores
1 1/4 cup water
Mix the ingredients together and knead the dough then divide it into small balls.
The stuffing:
Ground meat
1 ground onion
1 ground clove of garlic
Cumin, black pepper and salt to taste
Chopped parsley
Cook the ground meat with the onion, garlic and spices and then add the parsley.
Roll out the small dough balls in a circle one at a time, add a spoonful of the stuffing to one half of the dough circle, fold the dough over the stuffing and “braid” the edges by twisting them together to form a semi-circle. After stuffing all the dough balls, fry them in oil a few at a time until they are golden brown.
Traditional Cracked Wheat Soup
2 cups of cracked wheat
Meat, copped into small pieces
5 cloves of garlic
13 cardamom seeds
A piece of Sheba (a white, leafy type of spice)
Black pepper and salt
Mashed tomatoes and tomato paste (optional)
1. Wash the cracked wheat and place it in a pot of water and let it boil until it forms white starch (approximately half and hour).
2. Put the garlic cloves and seven cardamom seeds in a thin cheese cloth or metal spice-container and drop it in the pot.
3. After about 20 minutes, add the pieces of meat to the pot and let it boil.
4. By this time, the cracked wheat is bursting and the soup is becoming thick. You may add diced tomatoes and a little tomato paste now as an option.
5. When the meat and the cracked wheat are cooked, remove the spice-container from the pot and add the sheba, the remaining six cardamom seeds and the black pepper and drop it back into the pot and add salt to taste. Let it simmer for another 20 minutes. (serves six)
Puff Sambosa
3 cups white flour
1 egg
1/4 vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
Salt
Knead the dough, divide it into small balls and place them on a tray and cover them with plastic foil and leave them for an hour.
You can stuff them with the same ground meat stuffing as above or with cheese stuffing:
Halloom cheese grated
Chopped parsley or leeks
Roll out the dough balls very thin one at a time in a circle, add the stuffing to one half of the circle, fold the other half over the stuffing and cut the extra edges of the dough with the dough cutter to form a semi-circle. Put a light cotton cloth on a big tray and sprinkle a little flour on it. Place the stuffed dough on it and cover it with the cotton cloth while you are frying the Sambosa one at a time in hot oil. Remove the Sambosa when it is puffed and golden brown and place it on paper towels to absorb the extra oil.
- Arab News Review 30 October 2003
