Blog Post 5 — Samosas
Samosas. When you ask someone: “What is the most Indian snack that you can think of?”, chances are, the answer is samosas. Samosas is one of the most popular dishes across the world, and due to cultural diffusion and emigration, it has changed to create many different varieties across the world.
The word samosa is from the Persian word sanbosag, and many other countries have similar words for their own versions. The samosa was created in the Middle East, and emigrated all over Asia, finally making landfall in India with the Turkic dynasties that came to rule in the region in the 13th century. In Arab cookbooks of the time, samosas adopted a variety of names, including sanbusak, sanbusaq, and sanbusaj, all derived from the root word sanbosag. At the time, samosas were filled with meat, onion, and a variety of nuts and spices, and were served between courses.
Over time, we have seen large changes to samosas, and the fillings present in them. One important creation (that will be covered in a future blog post) was the introduction of the potato under the name “batata” by the Portuguese, which has grown to become a staple of Indian cuisine and is often paired with peas and spices to create one of the most iconic samosa fillings. This samosa filling is comprised of masala potatoes (boiled, mashed, and mixed with the other ingredients), onions, green peas, lentils, spices, and green chili. In many Indian states, such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and more, a bigger version of the samosa with the same filling, but with paneer and dried fruits can be found. An East Indian version of samosas known as shingas are popular in the area and are mainly made with potato. Samosas are served with mint, coriander, and tamarind chutneys, and can be found sweet or savoury (although savoury is much more common). In addition, samosas are often served with chaat, a savoury snack from India.
In order to make samosas at home, you should add flour, carom seeds (AKA ajwain), salt, and oil to a bowl and mix until the mixture resembles crumbs. Slowly add water to make a stiff dough, and let it rest under a moist cloth for 40 minutes. For the filling — make as desired, whether that be the general potato and peas combination, a filling including some type of meat, such as beef, or even a sweet samosa, if that is to your liking. After letting the dough rest and preparing the filling, cut out pieces of samosa dough and carefully put the filling in it. Carefully create a cone with the stuffed dough, and seal the open side with water. Finally, heat the oil on low heat, and add 4–5 samosas (but this is dependent on the side of your pot), where the dough will become firm and light brown, where you increase the heat to medium and cook. If you do this correctly, you will get a flaky, golden-brown samosa, which when you bite into, will taste your filling nicely. However, if you are lazy like me, a majority of Indian supermarkets should carry samosas as a part of their products, which are often extremely large, but very good tasting.
In this final section, I want to talk about samosas or their variations present in other parts of the world, as this Persian Empire spread across large portions of Asia and Africa, whose cuisine was affected by them as well. In Pakistan, we see samosas similar to those of India are present, but are generally spicier and have more vegetable-based fillings. In addition, regional variations are known to be larger or made with wonton wrappers. In Burma, we see samusas as a popular snack food, which are flat, triangular, and smaller than those of India. In the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea), sambuus are made with thinner dough and stuffed with ground beef. They are also reserved for special occasions. In Israel, we see sambusaq, a semicircular pocket of dough which generally is filled with chickpeas, fried onions, and spices, or meat, fried onions, parsley, spices, and pine nuts. Finally, in English speaking countries, outside of the versions that I mentioned earlier, they are available frozen in various grocery stores. Finally, although unrelated, there are many dishes from other countries that resemble samosas, such as empanadas (from Mexico), pasties (from the UK), curry puffs (all over Southeast Asia), and more.
Samosa is the poster snack for Indian cuisine, and its versatility and popularity across the world establish it as one of India’s best snack foods.
