Kenyan samosas, bhajia and the snacks you will eat on the road

Kenya runs on snacks. A paper twist of hot samosas at a petrol station on the way to the Mara, a plate of bhajia with tamarind sauce in a Mombasa cafe, a kebab and a soda at a bus stage: these are the foods you will eat between meals, often without planning to, and some of them are the best things you will eat all trip.

Most came from the Indian families who arrived with the railway from the 1890s, and they have been Kenyan for more than a century. The Kenyan samosa is a thin, crisp pastry triangle usually filled with spiced minced beef. Kenyan bhajia are potato slices in a spiced chickpea-flour batter. The coast adds its own fried dishes, viazi karai and kachori. This page is about the snacks themselves; for the full Nairobi street menu, mutura, smokies and roast maize included, see our Nairobi street food guide.

The snacks, one by one

The Kenyan samosa

Unlike the fat, potato-filled samosas of North Indian restaurants in the U.S., the classic Kenyan samosa is thin and crisp, folded from a strip of pastry into a neat triangle, and filled with minced beef cooked with onion, garlic, green chili, coriander and a little garam masala. Vegetable samosas with potato and peas, chicken samosas and lentil samosas are common too. On the coast and in Kenyan Somali homes the same snack is the sambusa, essential on the Ramadan table. Samosas appear at weddings, church fundraisers, graduation parties and office meetings, and every safari lodge seems to serve them at afternoon tea.

Bhajia, Kenyan style

In India, bhaji usually means onion fritters. In Kenya, bhajia means potatoes: sliced thin, coated in a batter of chickpea flour, turmeric, chili, garlic and fresh coriander, and fried until the edges crisp. Nairobi Kenyans argue about bhajia the way Americans argue about pizza, and the Indian restaurants of Parklands and Westlands are where the arguments happen. Eat them hot, with tamarind sauce, a squeeze of lemon and chili, and a cold soda.

Where Kenyans buy the good ones

• Mombasa: the Blue Room, an old cafe in the town center, is the name most Mombasa families give for bhajia and samosas; the Old Town's small cafes and evening stalls are the other half of the story
• Nairobi, Diamond Plaza: the food court in Parklands is where Nairobi goes for Indian snacks and vegetarian meals, bhajia above all
• Nairobi, Ngara: the old Indian quarter north of the CBD has samosa sellers and sweet shops that have fed the city for decades
• The safari road: petrol stations and roadside cafes on the Nairobi to Narok road and the highways north sell samosas by the piece; your guide will know which ones are fresh
• Lodges and camps: samosas, often vegetable, are standard at afternoon tea before the evening game drive

Ramadan evenings on the coast

If you are in Mombasa, Lamu or Malindi during Ramadan, many cafes close during the day and the streets go quiet. Around sunset, when the fast is broken, the Old Town wakes up: stalls set up with samosas, kebabs, viazi karai, mahamri and grilled meat, and families come out to eat. Visitors are welcome. Dress modestly, avoid eating and drinking in the street during daylight, and go with the flow of the evening. The dates move about 11 days earlier each year, so check them when you plan.

How to eat street snacks safely

• Choose food fried hot in front of you, at a stall with a queue
• Eat it while it is hot; skip anything that has been sitting in a glass case all afternoon
• Go easy on uncooked chutneys and raw onion salad at roadside stalls
• Carry hand sanitizer, and drink bottled or filtered water

Our health page has the fuller advice on food and water.

Recipe: Kenyan bhajia at home

Serves four as a snack. Gram flour, also sold as besan or chickpea flour, is in Indian groceries and many U.S. supermarkets.

• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8 inch thick
• 1 1/2 cups gram (chickpea) flour
• 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 green chili, finely chopped; a handful of chopped cilantro
• About 3/4 cup cold water; vegetable oil for frying

• Mix the flour, spices, garlic, chili and cilantro, then whisk in water until the batter coats a spoon like heavy cream
• Pat the potato slices dry and stir them into the batter so every slice is coated
• Fry a few at a time in oil at about 350°F, turning, until golden and crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels
• Serve hot with tamarind chutney, lemon wedges and chili sauce

Kiswahili at the table