Samosa

A Samosa or Samoosa is a fried or baked pastry with a savory filling, such as spiced potatoes, onions, peas, lentils, ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken. Its size and consistency may vary, but typically, it is distinctly triangular. Samosas are often accompanied by chutney.

With its origins in Uttar Pradesh, they are a popular appetizer or snack in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa, North Africa and South Africa.

Etymology

The word "samosa" can be traced to the Persian sanbosag. The pastry name in other countries also derives from this root, such as the crescent-shaped sanbusak or sanbusaj in Arab countries, sambosa in Afghanistan, samosa in India, samboosa in Tajikistan, samsa by Turkic-speaking nations, sambusa in parts of Iran, and chamuça in Goa, Mozambique and Portugal. While they are currently referred to as sambusak in the Arabic-speaking world, Medieval Arabic recipe books sometimes spell it sambusaj.

Samosa in India

The samosa contains a maida flour shell stuffed with some filling, generally a mixture of mashed boiled potato, onion, green peas, spices and green chili; The entire pastry is then deep fried to a golden brown colour, in vegetable oil. It is served hot and is often eaten with fresh Indian chutney, such as mint, coriander or tamarind. It can also be prepared as a sweet form, rather than as a savory one.
Samosas are often served in chaat, along with the traditional accompaniments of yogurt, chutney, chopped onions, coriander, and Chaat masala.

In Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other Northern States of India, a bigger version of the samosa with spicy filling of masala potatoes, peas, crushed green chillies, and sometimes dry fruits, and other variation fillings is quite popular. The samosa is bigger compared to other Indian and foreign variants.

Burmese-style samusa are flat and triangular, and usually smaller than their Indian counterparts.

In West Bengal, Shingaras (Bengali version of samosas) are snacks. They are found almost everywhere. Shingaras are easy to make but the folding is little tricky and many people do not know how to fold or make shingaras. Bengali shingaras are a bit smaller compared to those in other parts of India and the filling is mainly of small pieces of potato and unmashed boiled potato along with other ingredients. They are wrapped in a thin dough and fried. The coating is of white flour, not wheat flour, and it is slightly sweet in taste. What distinguishes good shingaras are flaky textures, almost as if they are made with savoury pie crust.

Usually, shingaras are fried deep to a golden brown colour in vegetable oil. They are served hot and consumed with ketchup or chutney, such as mint, coriander or tamarind. Shingaras are often served in chaat, along with the traditional accompaniments of yogurt, chutney, chopped onions and coriander, and chaat masala. Usually shingaras are eaten during the tea time as tiffin. They can also be prepared as a sweet form, rather than as a savoury one. Bengali shingaras tend to be triangular, filled with potato, peas and diced almond or other vegetables, and are more heavily fried and crunchier than either shingara or their Indian samosa cousins. Fulkopir shingara (Shingara filled with cauliflower mixture. In Bengal, there are non-vegetable varieties of shingara called mangsher shingara (mutton singara) and macher shingara (fish shingara). There are also sweeter versions like the narkel er shingara (coconut shingara) and others filled with khoya and dipped in sugar syrup.

In Hyderabad, India, a smaller version of the samosa with a thicker pastry crust and mince-meat filling referred to as lukhmi is consumed, as is another variation with onion fillings.

In South India, samosas are slightly different, in that they are folded in a different way more like Portuguese chamuças, with a different style pastry. The filling also differs, typically featuring mashed potatoes with spices, fried onions, peas, carrots, cabbage, curry leaves, green chillies, etc.. It is mostly eaten without chutney. Samosas in South India come in different sizes, and fillings are greatly influenced by the local food habits. Samosas made with spiced mashed potato mixture are quite popular in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.


Sources: Wikipedia

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