India, July 10 -- It isn't just the samosa, called sambuus in Somalia.

There are plenty of "culinary cousins" that link India and this East African country.

Somali kitchens brew a beverage quite similar to chai, called shaah. The gelatinous dessert xalwo, made with nutmeg, cardamom and cornstarch, very closely resembles halwa. Paratha has its mirror in the flatbread sabaayad; and dosa in the sourdough pancake canjeero, which is a staple across the country.

A new cookbook, Soomaaliya: Food, Memory, and Migration, by New York-based Somali chef Ifrah F Ahmed, traces these and a range of other traditional recipes influenced by the landscape of Somalia; the country's ancient trade links with India, Persia, Egypt, Rome and China; colonial-er...