The Indian snack list is incomplete without samosas. And you don’t need any specific occasion to relish this street-side delicacy. Many have been known to take it as breakfast on Sundays whereas on weekdays, samosas turn up as the best snack with a cuppa to shrug off the day-long fatigue.
They are a lovely snack to warm you on a cold day when you’re just a little more than nibbly and a little less than hungry. Or if you like the rains, nothing like a good downpour to bring on the samosa pangs. For that matter, even a light drizzle is enough to stir the taste buds for the samosa lover. Basically, the humble samosa is an all-time snack guaranteed to bring on the guilt pangs because it is not what the neighbourhood health freak would ever recommend!
But because it is a samosa - feel free to indulge. Samosa – actually is just a simple, deep-fried triangular snack which has a spicy potato stuffing inside a refined flour covering (in its original form) and can be found in almost every roadside food stall, even in the remotest of Indian villages. But with taste buds willing to explore, the stuffing has now started to vary in different places.
Like, in West Bengal the samosa, also known as Singaras has potatoes, cauliflower, raisins and green peas as the filling, mixed with special masalas (spices).
Similarly, samosas containing minced meat; and those which have a filling of khoya and are sweet to taste are equally popular. On the other hand, the Gujarati samosa has a filling of cabbage with a little bit of potato added to it.
In southern states, you get onion samosas, with onions, curry leaves and curry powder. In the North - especially in Delhi and Punjab where people are very fond of spicy food, samosas have a sour and a spicy taste.
The fillings mainly comprise potatoes, green peas, chaat masala, garam masala powder, coriander seeds, dried mango powder (aamchoor), one or two paneer (cottage cheese) cubes and sometimes, a couple of raisins and fried cashewnuts. This rich filling makes these samosas crisp on the outside and soft-crunchy on the inside and absolutely irresistible!
A samosa is usually served with tamarind and spicy mint chutneys. While the samosa is a wholesome snack, a samosa chaat is yet another filling variant. Just crush a samosa and pour chhola curry over it. For more flavours add chutney as per your taste and garnish with fine grated onions and coriander leaves.
You can crush a samosa between two slices of buttered toast to make it even more sinful.
When it comes to non-vegetarian samosas, these are not sold everywhere. But one can get frozen chicken and keema samosas now in supermarts.
If your tummy says no to ‘spicy’ food, cheese samosas are an option you could try. Frozen cheese samosas are easily available in the market. All you need is to thaw them, deep fry them and have them hot to enjoy the taste of melted cheese.
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