The Samosa tale.

Samosa is a famous Indian snack delicacy, which was accidentally invented many years ago in a village called as Sukrut, in Uttar Pradesh. This was when a mother wanted her kids to eat their meal. Kids were so picky that she tried innovating the food. She wrapped the potato sabzi in chapati and made a funny looking toy like wrap and the kids just loved it. Since then it became familiar to the people in the neighborhood. It gradually gained popularity throughout the country and evolved itself into what it is now.

Made out of spicy potato preparation wrapped in crispy layer of pastry, shaped into a 3 dimensional cone-like format and deep fried, samosa is the most famous and admired Indian snack, which is had with a chatni or sauce made out of green chilies, tamarind and lots of cilantro.

Americans have burgers, Italians have pizzas, Mexico has nachos, China has noodles, Japan has sushi, Denmark had pastries and India has samosas! The country where people from so many different cultures thrive amidst all the difference of traditions, values, festivals, food habits, but when it comes to snacking its Samosas for eveyrone!

This info was for those who aren’t familiar with this ‘wonder’.

Let me tell you something more about my bonding with Samosas.

I love and have been relishing Samosas ever since the days I used to call it ‘Tamota’.

I don’t remember when I took the first bite of it, but I do remember the last time. It was today in the evening while I was returning from office. I grabbed a quick meal of a Samosa chaat. Oh! It was so satiating and filling. It’s great to have something like this after a hectic day.

Eat is from the top of the cone or turn it upside down and start from the crunchy and crusty collar, it taste equally wonderful either way.

Now a days samosas can be had in a variety of ways. It can be had as a chaat, i.e., with curd and sweet and sour chutnies, or you can sandwich it between the bread of pav with cheese. You can have it with sambhaar, or the one filled with paneer, minced meat, or the sweet versions filled with thickened condensed milk and nuts and even chocolate!

You can find a samosas being relished in a variety of ways and almost on every occasion. Be it a birthday party, or a wedding, you will always find it on the menu as a snack. When a prospective groom’s family visits a girl’s family to meet them, there also you will find samosas accompanied by tea and sweets! And as they show it in movies, the boy takes a bite and asks, ‘these samosas are so delicious, where did you get them from?’ And the girl’s mother replies, ‘These are home-made, my daughter made them. She cooks wonderful food’. Then the boy looks at the girl and smiles, and the girl blushes and looks away from him. Isn’t that romantic and funny? Yes it is!

In my caste too, there are various ceremonies for every occasion. Even for the occasion of someone’s sad demise! On the third day, there are special prayers held so that the departed soul rests in peace. On this day, prashaad is prepared for the guests. It is properly packed in boxes and it comprises of kana prashaad, it’s a sweet preparation made of samolina, boiled chickpea cooked dry in spices, and what else? The samosa!

This kind of prashaad is also made during the other kind of special prayers before a wedding ceremony.

As a kid, I enjoyed being a part of lots of weddings. My paternal uncles’ and aunts’ wedding and maternal uncles’ and aunts’ wedding. And my cousins and I enjoyed samosas and other snacks with so many cups of espresso coffees dusted with lots of drinking chocolate.

But you don’t call only this snack as a samosa. There is a more to it.

In my office, my colleagues don’t wear tie unless a DGM or SGM pays a visit. At last moment, they take out a carton full of ties kept in one of the cupboard that is actually meant for keeping documents and struggle to find the one which will match their respective shirt’s color.

They put their tie on in so much of hurry that the knot doesn’t turn out to be perfect. And that’s when they say to each other, ‘Tera samosa theek kar be’! Which means your samosa is doesn’t look good, make it right. Yes, they refer to the triangular knot of the tie as Samosa! It sounds really funny looking at them doing and saying all this. :-D

My mom sometimes calls me Samosa. That’s when she feels I’ve put on weight she tells me to stop gorging on samosas and vadapavs, and tells me that I have become Samosa, which implies I’ve become fat. But what can I do? I can’t help it. I just love enjoying this snack after a long day at work or when I was in college, this was the only thing easily available. So now it has become a part of me.

Hope there are many others like me who too are in love with Samosas. And for those who haven’t yet tried it, go dig in.

But we must also remember that it is a snack and a snack cannot be a substitute for a meal. So it’s ok sometimes if you have samosas or any snack of your choice. But we must have a balanced diet and don’t make snacking a habit. Everything is good in moderation. So eat, enjoy and live a healthy life.

Take care… J