Thin pastry triangles filled with spiced mince, chicken or potato and deep-fried to order. South African samoosas run smaller than Indian ones, which is why they are sold three to a bag.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
The samoosa came to the Cape twice over: with people enslaved and exiled from Bengal and the Indonesian archipelago from the 1650s, and again with Indian traders and labourers arriving from the 1860s who set up the roti and masala counters that Athlone and Rylands still run. South African samoosas are smaller than Indian ones, wrapped in a thin flour pastry rather than a thick shortcrust, and fried rather than baked. In Bo-Kaap they are sold alongside daltjies, the chilli-bite fritters of gram flour and spinach that are the other half of any Cape Malay snack box.
Common allergens: Gluten
Tip from the editors. The filling must be cold and dry before it goes near pastry: warm or wet mince steams the pastry open in the oil every time.
Biesmiellah serves Cape Malay curry with yellow rice on the corner of Wale and Pentz Street in Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, at about R100 to R300 a head.
TryCape Malay chicken curry with yellow rice
TipOrder a side of daltjie and samoosa to share; the starters are a cheap way to taste more of the menu.
Muizenberg Flea Market fills Sunrise Circle every Sunday with over 300 stalls selling samosas, koesisters, mielies and bric-a-brac near Cape Town's coast.
TipTry the mielies in a cup from R10, and carry some cash, though most stalls also take cards through a card machine.
More cities are in research. Want samoosas covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.
