New Delhi: Be it a party or a family get-together, there is one snack that is eaten by all. Well, you guessed it right, I am talking about 'Samosa'. An appetizer like no other, Samosa is a potato stuffed deep-fried pastry that is mostly popular in Northern India. While there are many recipes and interesting facts about Samosa available on the internet, there have also been speculations that Samosa is a Mughlai dish. But, is it? Let's find out.
The origin of Samosa
Samosa, while many would want you to believe, is a Mughlai dish, wasn't even known to a single country or I would say, anywhere in the world. It did not even exist till the 10th century. In fact, it was in the 10the century only when Samosa was first introduced in the middle east. Simply put. Samosa existed before the Mughals came to India. This mouth-watering dish was first mentioned in Iranian historian Abolfazl Beyhaqi’s work Tarikh-e Beyhaghi in which it was referred as 'Sambosa'.
Samosa is not Mughlai
You see, Indians began cultivating different crops and vegetables a long ago. Indians explored the world of spices when Mughals did not even come to being. You must have been fed with the narrative that Mughals brought their culinary skills came from Central Asia and taught Indians about the dishes like Samosa, it needs to be mentioned that Samosas cannot be appropriated as Mughlai dish.
Samosa - a snack loved by all
Samosas are eaten all across the nation. The cooking technique of samosa (or singara) varies from region to region. In eastern India, the use of hing in the dough and potatoes prepared for filling makes the snack even more mouth-watery. On the other hand, in South India, samosas are made using local spices with onion, carrots, cabbage and curry leaves.
In 1334, the famous traveler Ibn Battuta explained Samosa in one of his writings saying, “minced meat cooked with almonds, pistachios, onions and spices placed inside a thin envelope of wheat and deep-fried in ghee”.
Time for a snack? Go and have samosa.
