The History Behind the Sambusas

Over 20 years ago, Nashville had one Somali café, and it had no kitchen. It needed someone to make its sambusas. My dad took the job.

My mom taught him her recipe, and he took it from there. Every morning he was up at 3 a.m., folding beef sambusas before the city woke up.

That sambusa fed a family of 10. When most people picture a sambusa, this is the one they see.

My dad had nine kids, and kids get more expensive as they grow. So he went looking for more work. First, the international markets around town. Then, the Indian restaurants.

They said yes, on one condition: make us a “veggie samosa.” That order is how we started blurring the line between sambusa and samosa.

The truth is they are the same idea. Travel from region to region and the filling changes, but the heart of it stays the same.

For years, my dad sold beef and veggie sambusas in front of the mosque on Fridays. In the summers, we kids set up the table and sold right beside him.

There was just one problem: we didn’t love beef or veggie. So we begged him for chicken. Eventually, he gave in. The other kids at the mosque couldn’t get enough.

Years later, my older brother took that recipe and perfected it.

When we were little, we had a trick. We’d empty out a beef sambusa and stuff it with cheese.

Years later, after The Horn had spent more than five years selling only the classic three, we brought that trick to the menu, around the same time as the Philly. We added eggs to make it a little more grown up.