Samboosa reached the Gulf along the old trade routes with India, and the Emirates made it their own: thin pastry folded into neat triangles around minced meat, cheese or vegetables, then fried until it shatters. During Ramadan, trays of samboosa appear on every iftar table, and the long strips of ready made pastry fill the supermarket fridges for the month.

Folding the triangles is pleasingly rhythmic once you have done three, and they can be made and frozen days ahead. That makes them the ideal snack to fry in batches during the build up to the Abu Dhabi finale.

Lamb filling

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) neutral oil
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 12 oz (340 g) ground lamb
• 2 teaspoons bezar
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 green chili
• 1 small handful cilantro

Cheese filling

Ingredients

• 6 oz (170 g) feta
• 4 oz (115 g) low moisture mozzarella
• 1 small handful parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried mint

Folding and cooking

Ingredients

• 24 strips of samosa pastry
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• about 6 cups (1.4 liters) neutral oil for frying

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