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Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers)
Thin yeasted dough folded into half-moons around mashed chickpeas cooked with golden onion and turmeric, then shallow-fried a minute a side until crisp and golden.
Iraqi · medium · serves 8
prep 40 min · cook 25 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~347 cal · 6g protein · 35g carbs · 20g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sambusak are the filled turnovers of Iraq, cousins of the Indian samosa, and they come with many fillings: salty cheese, meat, or sugar and nuts for a sweet version. Sambusak b'tawa, "in the pan", are fried ones, and the classic filling is chickpeas.
The chickpea version is a treasure of the Baghdadi Jewish kitchen. The chickpeas are mashed coarsely with onion fried golden and seasoned with turmeric and salt, and some families, especially those with roots in Basra and ties to India, add cumin and curry spices. The dough is a simple yeasted one, rolled thin and folded around a spoonful of filling.
They are eaten as a snack or an appetiser, and above all at festivals: at Purim among Iraqi Jews, and at Hanukkah, when frying in oil is part of the celebration. Iraqi Jewish families carried the recipe with them to Israel and beyond, and still make it for every holiday.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
- 225 g (about 1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour (for the dough)
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar (for the dough)
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil (for the dough)
- 1/4 tsp salt (for the dough)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (for the filling)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin, optional, the Basra way
- 1 tsp sugar (for the filling)
- 1 tsp salt (for the filling)
- 1 can (400 g) cooked chickpeas, drained, about 1 1/2 cups
- about 1 cup vegetable or olive oil, for shallow frying
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, yeast and sugar in a bowl, add the warm water, then the 2 tablespoons of oil and the salt, and knead for 5 minutes into a soft, smooth dough. Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour, until doubled.
- 2Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion for about 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden. Stir in the turmeric, cumin if using, sugar and salt, then the chickpeas, and take the pan off the heat.
- 3Pulse the chickpea mixture in a food processor, or mash it with a fork, to a coarse, chunky paste. Taste for salt and let it cool.
- 4Divide the risen dough into 16 balls. Stretch or roll each into a thin round about 10 cm across, put a heaped tablespoon of filling on one half, fold it over into a half-moon and press the edges firmly to seal. Crimp them with a fork.✎ Chef’s noteSeal well and leave no air pockets, or the turnovers open in the hot oil.
- 5Heat about half a centimetre of oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Fry the sambusak in batches for about 1 minute on each side, until golden brown, and drain on paper towels. Serve warm.
Baghdadi Jewish tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
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Baghdad. Masgouf is cooked standing up. The carp is split down the back, salted, staked on a frame around a wood fire with the open side to the flames for close to an hour, then laid flat on the embers to finish. The riverside strip at Abu Nuwas is where Baghdadis go for it.
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Iraq. The oldest known recipes in the world are Babylonian clay tablets from southern Mesopotamia, three of them dated to around 1730 BCE and now at Yale; the best preserved carries twenty-five stews. One is a lamb and beet stew with beer, arugula, coriander, Persian shallot, cumin, leek and garlic, elaborate enough to suggest a palace kitchen. What that establishes is continuity of place rather than of recipe.
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Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Food processor.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers)?
Thin yeasted dough folded into half-moons around mashed chickpeas cooked with golden onion and turmeric, then shallow-fried a minute a side until crisp and golden.
Where does Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers) come from?
Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers) is an Iraqi dish from Baghdad, Iraq.
Can Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sambusak b'Tawa (Iraqi Chickpea Turnovers) take to make?
About 2 h 5 min in all: 40 minutes prep and 25 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 8.
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