A samosa or samoosa is a fried or baked pastry with savory filling, such as spiced potatoes,
onions, peas, lentils and sometimes ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken.
They may or may not also contain pine nuts.
The samosa originated in the Middle East prior to the 10th century.
They were introduced to South Asia during the Muslim Delhi Sultanate when cooks from
Middle East and Central Asia migrated to work in the kitchens of the Sultan and the nobility.
Its size and consistency may vary, but typically it is distinctly triangular or tetrahedral
in shape.
Indian samosas are usually vegetarian, and often accompanied by a mint sauce or chutney.
With its origins in Uttar Pradesh, they are a popular entree appetizer or snack in the
local cuisines of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia, the Arabian
Peninsula, the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa and North Africa.
Due to cultural diffusion and emigration from these areas, samosas are today also prepared
in other global regions.
Name variation Samosa is generally used in the South Asia
and Southeast Asian countries.
Other names are used in other areas:, Bengali: সিঙাড়া , sing-ra in Assamese,
Oriya: ଶିଙାଡା, shingada, Sinhala: සමොසා, Hebrew: סמבוסק‎‎
sambusak, Gujarati: સમોસા samosa, Kannada: ಸಮೋಸಾ samosa, Malayalam:
സമോസ, Marathi: सामोसा, Persian: سمبوسه, Tamil: சமோசா,
Telugu: సమోసా, Urdu: سموسه‎, sambusak, samsa or somsa in Turkic Central
Asia, as well as Turkey, sambusa among Arabs, Djiboutians, Eritreans, Ethiopians, Somalis
and Tajiks, sanbusé among Iranians, samosha among Burmese, sambosa [sam͡bosḁ] among
Malagasy or chamuça in the Portuguese-speaking world.
Etymology The word "samosa" can be traced to the Persian
سنبوساگ 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.
History
The samosa originated in the Middle East prior to the 10th century.
Abolfazl Beyhaqi, an Iranian historian mentioned it in his history, Tarikh-e Beyhaghi.
It was introduced to the Arabian subcontinent in the 13th or 14th century by traders from
the region.
Amir Khusro, a scholar and the royal poet of the Delhi Sultanate, wrote in around 1300
that the princes and nobles enjoyed the "samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on".
Ibn Battuta, the 14th-century traveller and explorer, describes a meal at the court of
Muhammad bin Tughluq, where the samushak or sambusak, a small pie stuffed with minced
meat, almonds, pistachio, walnuts and spices, was served before the third course, of pulao.
The Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th-century Mughal document, mentions the recipe for qutab, which it says,
“the people of Hindustan call sanbúsah”.
Regional varieties Regions where the dish serves as a staple
of local cuisine have different ways of preparing it.
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 chilies, and sometimes dry fruits, and other variation
fillings is quite popular.
The samosa is bigger compared to other Indian and foreign variants.
In West Bengal, shingaras 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
savory pie crust.
Usually, shingaras are fried deep to a golden brown color 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 savory 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.
In Bengal, there are non-vegetable varieties of shingara called mangsher shingara and macher
shingara.
There are also sweeter versions like the narkel er 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 chilies, 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.
Nepal The samosa is called singoda in Nepal.
As in India, it is a very popular part of local cuisine.
Vendors sell the dish in various markets and restaurants.
Burma They are called samusa in Burmese, and are
an extremely popular snack in Burma.
Bangladesh Both flat-shaped and full-shaped samosas are
popular snacks in Bangladesh.
The Bengali version of the full shaped samosa is called a shingara and is normally much
smaller than the standard Indian variety.
The shingara is usually filled with pieced potatoes and vegetables, however, shingaras
filled with beef liver is very popular in some parts of the country.
The flat type samosa is called a somucha and is usually filled with onion and minced meat.
Pakistan Samosas of various types are available all
over Pakistan.
In general, most samosa varieties sold in the southern Sindh province and in the eastern
Punjab, especially the city of Lahore are spicier and mostly contain vegetable or potato
based fillings.
On the other hand, the samosas sold in the west and north of the country mostly contain
meat based fillings and are comparatively less spicy.
The meat samosa contain ground beef and ground chicken fillings and are very popular as snack
food in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, samosas of Karachi are famous for their spicy flavour, whereas samosas from
Fasilabad are noted for being unusually large.
Another distinct variety of samosa available in Karachi is called kaghazi samosa due to
its thin and crispy covering which resembles a wonton or spring roll wrapper.
Another variant, popular in Punjab, consists of samosas with side dishes of mashed, spiced
chickpeas, onion and coriander salad, as well as various chutneys to top the samosas.
The samosas are fried or baked pastry with a savoury filling, such as spiced potatoes,
onions, peas, lentils, ground lamb, ground beef or ground chicken.
Central Asia
In Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang samosas are almost always baked and
never fried.
The dough can be a simple bread dough, or a layered pastry dough.
The most common filling for traditional samosa is lamb and onions, but beef, chicken, and
cheese varieties are also quite common from street vendors.
Samosas with other fillings, such as potato or pumpkin, can also be found.
In Central Asia, samsas are often sold on the street as a hot snack.
They are sold at kiosks, where only samosas are made, or alternatively, at kiosks where
other fast foods are sold.
Many grocery stores also buy samosas from suppliers and resell them.
Indonesia The local equivalent of samosas in Indonesia
is known as pastel.
It is usually filled with eggs, ground beef or chicken.
Horn of Africa
Samosas are a staple of local cuisine in the Horn of Africa, where they are known as sambusa.
While they can be eaten any time of the year, they are usually reserved for special occasions,
such as Ramadan, Christmas and Meskel.
Israel In Israel, a sambusak is a semicircular pocket
of dough filled with mashed chickpeas, fried onions and spices.
It is associated with Mizrahi Jewish cuisine.
An Israeli sambusak is not as spicy as the Indian version.
According to Gil Marks, an Israeli food historian, sambusak has been a traditional part of the
Sephardic Sabbath meal since the thirteenth century.
Maldives In the Maldives, the type of samosa made in
Maldivian cuisine is known as bajiyaa.
It is filled with a mixture, which includes mainly onions and Maldive fish.
Portuguese-speaking regions
In Goa and Portugal, samosas are known as chamuças.
They are usually filled with chicken, beef, pork, lamb or vegetables, and generally served
quite hot.
Samosas are an integral part of Goan cuisine and are a common snack in Portugal.
A probably samosa-inspired snack is also very common in Brazil, and relatively common in
several former Portuguese colonies in Africa, such as Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé
and Príncipe, Angola, and Mozambique, where they are more commonly known as pastéis or
empadas.
They are related to the Hispanic empanada and to the Italian calzone.
English-speaking countries Samosas are popular in Uganda and Kenya, and
are also growing in popularity in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, and the United
States.
They may be called samboosa or sambusac, and in South Africa they are often called samoosa.
Frozen samosas are increasingly available in grocery stores in Canada, the United States,
and the United Kingdom.
While samosas are traditionally fried, many Westerners prefer to bake them, as this is
viewed as more convenient and healthier by some diners.
Variations using phyllo, or flour tortillas are sometimes used.
See also
References
External links