The Fascinating Journey of the Samosa
The Fascinating Journey of the Samosa
A snack that happily settled in India and made the country fall head over heels in love with itself.
Most Indians think of the samosa as a humble street snack but it is much, much more than that. It is an historic symbol as well as delectable evidence that there is nothing new about the process of globalisation. Widely considered a quintessentially Indian delicacy, few people know that the samosa does not have an Indian origin. Yes, you read that right. The deep fried, tightly pack of spicy goodness that we thought belonged to India is actually a delicious and well-travelled immigrant from Central Asia!
The samosa’s origins actually lie thousands of miles away in the ancient empires that rose up in the Iranian plateau at the dawn of civilization itself. The gastronomic literature of 10th century Middle Eastern cuisine, especially early medieval Persian texts have many mentions of the sanbosag, an early relative of the samosa and an etymological cousin of the Persian pyramidal pastry, samsa.
Other historical accounts also refer to sanbusak, sanbusaq and even sanbusaj as tiny mince-filled triangles, eaten by travelling merchants around campfires and packed in saddlebags as a snack for a long journey. According to these accounts, it was thanks to these travelling merchants that the stuffed triangle travelled from Central Asia to North Africa, East Asia and South Asia.
In India, it was introduced by the Middle Eastern chefs who migrated for employment during the Delhi Sultanate rule, although some accounts also credit merchants for bringing the fare to this part of the world. Later, having earned the blessings and love of the Indian royalty, the samosa soon became a snack fit for the king.
The Britishers too fell in love with the samosa on their arrival in India and they, along with the Indian diaspora, took the tasty tidbit with them to the far corners of their colonial empire. The samosa settled in the hearts of people everywhere, leading to the evolution of multiple regional versions. In the Middle East, the semi-circular version is stuffed with cheese, onions, herbs, spices and minced meat, and in case of Israeli cuisine, mashed chickpeas and pine nuts.
There are a number of varieties in India itself, all of them served with chutneys. According to samosa aficionados, a samosa is deemed perfect when crispy-crunch of the lightly golden casing contrasts beautifully with soft texture and spicy taste of the filling. The most popular and common filling is made of boiled potatoes, green peas, onions, green chillies, ginger and spices.
While the north Indian version of samosa is large, the version called the singhara (popular in West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand), is smaller and has trickier folds. Also, the potatoes are cut fine (not boiled but cooked) and at times mixed with peanuts, the occasional raisin or the odd cashew nut. The Hyderabadi luqmi, on the other hand, is strictly meat-filled and far flakier than the regular samosa consumed elsewhere in India.
Wherever it is prepared, the ubiquitous samosa embodies the essence of India – adaptable, inventive, tolerant and heterogeneous. Today, after centuries of evolution and adaptation, it has become arguably the most popular, plebeian snack available in India..
Chai and Samosa from college canteens to railway platforms and yes, airport lounges to food courts too, the samosa is omnipresent. A bunch of IITians have even dished out a social app called Samosa that aims to makes chatting fun. The Samosa app shares punchlines, proverbs, corny love messages, witty responses, funny expressions and song clips from popular movies. Asked what inspired them to choose this name, the founders answered, “We realised everyone eats samosa for chats and breaks and it was perfect as we wanted a name that was common and simple.”
The samosa is undoubtedly the brightest star in the constellation of Indian street food. When you bite into a gorgeous, golden samosa, what you taste is the story of India itself – a melting pot of cultures, cuisines and cooking traditions. Well that’s the jouney of an nri snack which made it to the nation without documented papers and continues to serve the nation without lalu.
A snack that happily settled in India and made the country fall head over heels in love with itself.
Most Indians think of the samosa as a humble street snack but it is much, much more than that. It is an historic symbol as well as delectable evidence that there is nothing new about the process of globalisation. Widely considered a quintessentially Indian delicacy, few people know that the samosa does not have an Indian origin. Yes, you read that right. The deep fried, tightly pack of spicy goodness that we thought belonged to India is actually a delicious and well-travelled immigrant from Central Asia!
The samosa’s origins actually lie thousands of miles away in the ancient empires that rose up in the Iranian plateau at the dawn of civilization itself. The gastronomic literature of 10th century Middle Eastern cuisine, especially early medieval Persian texts have many mentions of the sanbosag, an early relative of the samosa and an etymological cousin of the Persian pyramidal pastry, samsa.
Other historical accounts also refer to sanbusak, sanbusaq and even sanbusaj as tiny mince-filled triangles, eaten by travelling merchants around campfires and packed in saddlebags as a snack for a long journey. According to these accounts, it was thanks to these travelling merchants that the stuffed triangle travelled from Central Asia to North Africa, East Asia and South Asia.
In India, it was introduced by the Middle Eastern chefs who migrated for employment during the Delhi Sultanate rule, although some accounts also credit merchants for bringing the fare to this part of the world. Later, having earned the blessings and love of the Indian royalty, the samosa soon became a snack fit for the king.
The Britishers too fell in love with the samosa on their arrival in India and they, along with the Indian diaspora, took the tasty tidbit with them to the far corners of their colonial empire. The samosa settled in the hearts of people everywhere, leading to the evolution of multiple regional versions. In the Middle East, the semi-circular version is stuffed with cheese, onions, herbs, spices and minced meat, and in case of Israeli cuisine, mashed chickpeas and pine nuts.
There are a number of varieties in India itself, all of them served with chutneys. According to samosa aficionados, a samosa is deemed perfect when crispy-crunch of the lightly golden casing contrasts beautifully with soft texture and spicy taste of the filling. The most popular and common filling is made of boiled potatoes, green peas, onions, green chillies, ginger and spices.
While the north Indian version of samosa is large, the version called the singhara (popular in West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand), is smaller and has trickier folds. Also, the potatoes are cut fine (not boiled but cooked) and at times mixed with peanuts, the occasional raisin or the odd cashew nut. The Hyderabadi luqmi, on the other hand, is strictly meat-filled and far flakier than the regular samosa consumed elsewhere in India.
Wherever it is prepared, the ubiquitous samosa embodies the essence of India – adaptable, inventive, tolerant and heterogeneous. Today, after centuries of evolution and adaptation, it has become arguably the most popular, plebeian snack available in India..
Chai and Samosa from college canteens to railway platforms and yes, airport lounges to food courts too, the samosa is omnipresent. A bunch of IITians have even dished out a social app called Samosa that aims to makes chatting fun. The Samosa app shares punchlines, proverbs, corny love messages, witty responses, funny expressions and song clips from popular movies. Asked what inspired them to choose this name, the founders answered, “We realised everyone eats samosa for chats and breaks and it was perfect as we wanted a name that was common and simple.”
The samosa is undoubtedly the brightest star in the constellation of Indian street food. When you bite into a gorgeous, golden samosa, what you taste is the story of India itself – a melting pot of cultures, cuisines and cooking traditions. Well that’s the jouney of an nri snack which made it to the nation without documented papers and continues to serve the nation without lalu.
Blog by :
Ayush Kumar
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