Aishah's Favorite Ramadan Recipe: Cheese Samboosa

CHEESE SAMBOOSA - triangular fried "eggroll"-like appetizers with a tasty feta cheese filling -- you can modify the recipe too adding your favorite meat filling, etc. It's really awesome and one of my all-time favorite Ramadan recipes!

Ingredients:

1 (500 gram) box of feta cheese
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 clove of garlic, smashed
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1/2 Maggi chicken bouillon cube
1 Tablespoon oregano flakes
Samboosa wrappers, eggroll wrappers, or filo pastry sheets
vegetable oil for deep frying

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Cut up the feta cheese into small cubes. Cover with in cold water and soak for at least a half an hour (to remove excess salt). In a skillet sauté the finely chopped onion in a few Tablespoons of olive oil. When the onion is translucent, add the finely chopped tomato and smashed garlic. Cook stirring for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 of a Maggi chicken bouillon cube and the Tablespoon of oregano flakes. Stir until the bouillon cube is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Drain the feta cheese and add to the onion mixture. Mix (smash together) well.

To roll: Lay out a samboosa wrapper (long and rectangular in shape) with a short edge of the rectangle directly in front of you. Place a rounded teaspoon of the feta cheese filling near this edge. Then folding away from you (towards the other short edge), enclose the cheese mixture in the wrapper by folding the wrapper in a triangular shape. On the side, make a paste of flour and water (1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup water). Moisten the final edge of the samboosa wrapper with the flour paste to cause it to stick and keep the individual samboosa in its triangular shape. Place wet ("pasted") side down on a lightly greased plate. Note: if using eggroll wrappers or filo dough, you must cut it into rectangles before stuffing with the meat mixture. For filo dough, use a thickness of two or three sheets. The rectangles can be cut 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches wide, depending on the desired size of the finished appetizer, and should be long enough to enable you to completely enclose the cheese mixture when folding.

When all of the samboosa have been rolled, fry a few at a time in a heavy skillet in one inch of vegetable oil until the outside is golden and crispy. Flip at least once while frying to brown both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.