The term samosa and its variants cover a family of pastries and dumplings popular from north-eastern Africa to western China. An ancient recipe for samosa, widespread in the Near East and India, involves mixing 1 cup of oil, 1 cup of melted butter, 1 cup of warm water, and 1 teaspoon of salt with dough. A praise of samosa (as sanbusaj) can be found in a 9th-century poem by the Persian poet Ishaq al-Mawsili. Recipes for the dish are found in the 10th-13th century Arab cookery books, under the names sanbusak, sanbusaq, and sanbusaj, all of which derive from the Persian word sanbosag. In Iran, the dish was popular until 16th century, but by the 20th century, its popularity was restricted to certain provinces (such as the sambusas of Larestan).^[5] Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995-1077), an Iranian historian, mentioned it in his history,