Samosas???!
thanks for the help =]
Answers: can anyone tell me the significance of samosa, how and where they were originated, and the importance of samosa
thanks for the help =]
A samosa is a common snack in South Asia, in countries such as India, Pakistan and Nepal as well as Bangladesh. It is believed that it originated in Central Asia prior to the 10th century.[1] It generally consists of a fried triangular- or tetrahedron-shaped pastry shell with a savory filling of spiced potatoes, onion, peas, coriander, and sometimes fresh paneer. Non-vegetarian samosas may substitute fillings of minced meat or fish. The size and shape of a samosa, as well as the consistency of the pastry used, can vary considerably although it is mostly triangular. It can be spicy and is often eaten with chutney, such as mint, coriander or tamarind. It can also be prepared as a sweet form, rather than as a savory one. In the city of Hyderabad, India, a smaller version of the samosa with a thicker pastry crust and mince filled center is called a Luqmi. Nagpur city is supposed to have the most number of samosa shops in India.
they are very good. They are triangle shaped with anything you can put in the inside!
SAMOSA: History & Origins
The samosa is arguably the most enduring of Indian snacks. Traditionally samosas in India have triangular or conical shapes. Savoury samosas are usually served with a chutney of some sorts. It is inevitably encountered in chaat shops across the land and there are some halwais who take greater pride in their samosa than anything else.
The "Samosa" probably travelled to India along ancient trade routes from Central Asia. Small, crisp mince-filled triangles that were easy to make around the campfire during night halts, then conveniently packed into saddlebags as snacks for the next day's journey. According to the “The Oxford Companion to Food” the Indian samosa is merely the best known of an entire family of stuffed pastries or dumplings popular from Egypt and Zanzibar to Central Asia and West China. Arab cookery books of the 10th and 13th Centuries refer to the pastries as sanbusak (the pronunciation still current in Egypt, Syria, & Lebanon), sanbusaq or sanbusaj, all reflecting the early medieval form of the Persian word: sanbosag. Claudia Roden (1968) quotes a poem by Ishaq ibn Ibrahim-al-Mausili (9th Century) praising the sanbusaj.
By the early 14th Century, it was not only a part of Indian cuisine but also food fit for a king. Amir Khusrao, prolific poet of Delhi royalty, observed in 1300 that the royal set seemed partial to the "samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on". In 1334, the renowned traveller Ibn Battuta wrote about the sambusak: "minced meat cooked with almonds, pistachios, onions and spices placed inside a thin envelop of wheat and deep-fried in ghee". And the samosa obtained a royal stamp with its inclusion in the Ain-i-Akbari which declared that among dishes cooked with wheat there is the qutab, "which the people of Hind called the sanbusa".
The current day samosas are small, crispy, flaky pastries that are usually deep-fried. They are stuffed with an assortment of fillings ranging from minced meat with herbs and spices to vegetables such as cauliflower and potatoes. In Bengal one finds samosas filled with sweetened reduced milk that go straight from the frying pan to a syrup wash. But whatever the filling, samosas are a treasured Indian snack---the perfect companion to a cup of chai.
see yourself
One day some allo bhaji and flour dough was left and the person was fed up of bhaji and chappati so thought of filling and frying
A samosa is a common snack in South Asia, in countries such as India, Pakistan and Nepal as well as Bangladesh. It is believed that it originated in Central Asia prior to the 10th century.[1] It generally consists of a fried triangular- or tetrahedron-shaped pastry shell with a savory filling of spiced potatoes, onion, peas, coriander, and sometimes fresh paneer. Non-vegetarian samosas may substitute fillings of minced meat or fish. The size and shape of a samosa, as well as the consistency of the pastry used, can vary considerably although it is mostly triangular. It can be spicy and is often eaten with chutney, such as mint, coriander or tamarind. It can also be prepared as a sweet form, rather than as a savory one. In the city of Hyderabad, India, a smaller version of the samosa with a thicker pastry crust and mince filled center is called a Luqmi. Nagpur city is supposed to have the most number of samosa shops in India.
Punjabi Samosa with chutney, Bangalore
Chamu?as from GoaSamosas are often served in chaat, along with the traditional accompaniments of yogurt, chutney, chopped onions and coriander, and chaat masala.
Samosas have become popular around 1980 in the United Kingdom, South Africa and East Africa, Persian Gulf countries and in Canada and the United States. They are often called "samboosa" or sambusac by the Arabs. In South Africa they are often called "samoosa".[2] Frozen samosas are increasingly available in grocery stores in Canada and the United States.
While samosas are traditionally fried, many Westerners prefer to bake them, as this is more convenient and is perceived to be healthier (this could be seen as an example of fusion cuisine). Variations using phyllo[3] or flour tortillas[4] are not unheard of in Western countries.
In Portugal and Goa, samosas are known as "chamu?as" and they are very popular in Lisbon. These are shaped as triangles and usually filled with beef or pork. Chicken and vegetarian versions are rare. Chamu?as are also popular along the West Coast of Africa and in Mozambique.
In Brazil, samosas are known as "pastéis" (plural of "pastel", which simply means "pastry" or "pie"). They are almost exclusively a square (not tetrahedron) in shape and fried thin pastry, and are considered by many Brazilians as a typical Brazilian snack. Their introduction into the Brazilian culinary occurred through Chinese immigrants in the end of the 19th century as modified spring rolls adapted to the available ingredients, but its popularity was boosted in mid-1940's by the huge Japanese community in Southeastern Brazil that, afraid of the prejudices prevailing in Brazil at the time due to the Japan-Nazi alliance in the World War II, began to run small pastel businesses in order to be taken as Chinese people instead.
The Brazilian pastel is typically filled with minced beef, mozzarella-type cheese, chicken, or palmheart cream. It can, however, be filled with virtually any sort of edible filling, and a host of innovative fillings like crab meat, shrimp, all types of cheese (mixed or not--cream cheese is a must), spicy Italian-type sausages, and pork ham are very popular. Vegetable-filled pastéis, however, are very rare, if not impossible to find.
Many of the best pastels are from street-corner portable stalls or vendors that can be found everywhere in the country, but mostly in the Southeastern states of S?o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais.
