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- अगर इंडियन स्ट्रीट फूड का नाम सुनते ही आपके मुंह में पानी आ जाता है, तो आप इन 10 इंडियन स्ट्रीट फूड्स को अपनी जिंदगी में एक बार जरूर खाएं (2019)
Samosa, The All Time Favourite Indian Snack
Samosa - the first thing that comes to the mind of Indian foodies when they hear the word ‘snacks’, isn’t just your dough filled up with aaloo filling anymore! Although aaloo samosa still remains the most loved variety of samosa. Your basic ingredients of samosa include a mixture of all-purpose flour, often known as maida with some sort of filling inside, generally made with boiled potatoes. It is then deeply fried to give it that crispy yet soft taste you enjoy with your tea.
Samosas are often served with a variety of chutneys made with mint, tamarind, and many other ingredients and flavours. Indians have a unique relationship with Samosa. Notably, the people of the corporate can easily relate to this. Samosa is like a scheduled part of their life. That 4 pm cup of tea can't be taken all by itself, it’s incomplete without the delight of a delicious samosa! It's has become a habit instead of being just a snack.
Some Interesting Facts about Samosa
- Did you know that your favourite snack didn’t really originate in India? That’s correct! Samosa is believed to be originated somewhere in the middle east before the 10th century, and it was considered as the ‘delicacy of the kings’ as it only used to be consumed by the elite.
- You’d be surprised to know the different names it has in various regions of India. For example, in the north-eastern areas of Jharkhand and Bengal, it’s known as Shingada, which is usually smaller in size as compared to your average size of samosa. In Hyderabad, it is known as Lukhmi. And, it is known by various other names throughout the world.
- Contrary to popular belief, samosa isn’t your typical ‘unhealthy snack’. Your average samosa is considered to have only 300 calories with over 30 grams over carbs and much less fat than most street foods. Add to it some more quality ingredients such as paneer and green veggies, and you have prepared yourself a tasty, healthy snack!
- Although people don’t care about in what shape their food is served to them as long as it’s delicious, if you’re someone who loves cooking or even if you’re a food lover, you’d understand how the perfect triangle shaped snack may just be able to make you drool all over.
- As mentioned earlier, the most accepted and straightforward form is the conical shape that is found anywhere with the most basic filling of potatoes and peas. But now in this world of innovation, people continue to experiment with the contours of this snack too.
- Samosa, today, comes in a variety of shapes such as flower shape, layered samosa, ring-shaped samosa, mat-shaped samosa and many of these sorts. As it’s not that difficult to try, you definitely should try your hand at making new samosa shapes on your own and impress your family and friends with your cooking skills.
Veg & Non-Veg Samosa
Samosa for Vegetarians
The most basic filling that gets used and is accepted by all is the aaloo (potato) filling. It's the most traditional filling that can easily be found in the streets of India. Other than this, paneer samosas have also become quite popular having a mixture of paneer with some other ingredient. Chana dal samosa along with mashed potatoes, mushroom samosa, onion samosa, sweet potato samosa, chocolate samosa, pasta samosa, etc. are some of the other types of veg samosa recipes that are being made throughout the country.
A lot of vegetables are being used as fillings such as cabbage, onion, tomatoes and many more. Also, people use kishmish (raisins), badaam (almonds), Kaju (cashew nuts), etc. and these to the fillings to make it even tastier. Crushed carrots, spinach, etc. are also used and sometimes, and after adding all of these ingredients including aaloo, paneer, veggies, and dry fruits, your samosa evolves to be called as a Shahi Samosa!
Samosa for Non-Veg Lovers
Why should non-vegetarians be left behind, eh? Just like your veg samosa, there are a lot of fillings available to be filled in your non-veg samosa as well.
From chicken to mutton keema, and tuna to beef, people, use these as some of the main ingredients of fillings in their non-veg samosa. Egg samosas are also another delicious samosa type to try under this category. And for all the seafood lovers out there, there’s also the fish samosas, which are highly famous in some of the areas of Bengal.
Best Places to Have Samosa in Mumbai
Mumbai surely is a foodie’s paradise, and samosa forms one of the main courses of the street cuisines. We’ve curated down some of the best places in Mumbai for you to try some of the tastiest samosas.
A1 Samosa @Sion West
If you haven’t tried A1’s samosa in Mumbai, then you haven’t tried one of the best samosas you may ever have! A1’s samosa is often rated at the top by the people of Mumbai. They also serve to various theatres throughout the city, and they take pride in offering their specialties which are Baked Samosa and PalakPaneer Cheese Samosa.
The Bohri Kitchen @ Worli
Their specialty, Smoked Mutton Keema Samosa is famous amongst other types. If you’re some who would rather enjoy their food at home avoiding the crowdy restaurants and shops, then you’re in for a delight as TBK offers home delivery as well! Their samosas are also some of the costliest with having varieties which are priced at well over *Rs. 100! Several Celebrities too, have visited the place and have praised and recommended this place.
Burma Burma @ Kothari House
It’s a pure vegetarian restaurant & thus offers veg samosa only. Having a rating of over 4.5 on Zomato, we could say that this place is among one of the best places for trying out some authentic flavours amidst the Burmese culture & tradition. They make the most expensive samosa in our list, offering their Samosa Salad for over Rs. 350. In their main course, they offer a dish named Samuza Kari, which is formed using a Samosa only. They also have their branches in New Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Bengaluru.
Gulati Sweets & Snacks @ Andheri East
This one is a Punjabi Restaurant with a Zomato rating of 4.3. The offers home delivery too. They have quite reasonable prices, and a regular consumer can easily afford the cost at this place. They serve vegetarian samosa only and have amazing service!
Guru Kripa @ Sion
The Samosas offered here range between Rs. 30 to 50 per piece. If there’s one name that every samosa lover knows in Mumbai, it’s the Guru Kripa Restaurant. They offer home delivery as well so that you can enjoy their delicious samosa sitting right in your living room!
Soam @ Girgaon
If you’re a sucker for homemade food, then this is the place for you! They are most famous for their Gujarati food but also serve some of the best samosas in Mumbai. You can try some of the tastiest aaloo samosas Mumbai has to offer here.
SionA1 Samosa @Goregaon West
For all of you who like to make their every food unique by trying out a slightly different version of it, this would be your go-to place. They offer a wide variety of samosas from aloo samosa to Chinese samosa, cheese corn samosa, paneer samosa, and many more. Their prices are very reasonable for the mouthwatering samosa they offer.
Jeff Caterers @Bandra West
Famous for their cuisines from the Mughal period, Jeff Caterers won’t disappoint you with their delectable samosa! They offer veg as well as non-veg samosa, one of their famous dishes being the mutton samosa.
2 Unique Samosa Recipes to Try on Your Own
Cheese Samosa
Now add your favourite ingredient to your favourite snack! The name itself was enough to salivate our mouths, and here, check out how to make some delicious cheese samosas.
Ingredients
For the Covering: Samosa SheetsFor the Filling:
- 350 g (3 cups approx.) shredded mozzarella cheese
- Around 100 g softened cream cheese
- 1 1/2 tbsp creamy, salty white cheese
- 2 1/2 tbsp (20 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp water
For Frying:
- Neutral-tasting oil like vegetable, sunflower, corn or canola oil
How to Prepare
- Mash together cream cheese and white cheese in a bowl till the mixture is smooth throughout. After this, add the mozzarella cheese, and keep this mixture aside.
- Mix flour and water in a smaller bowl and make a consistent and smooth paste.
- Start working with one samosa sheet at a time and keep the rest covered under a tea towel to keep them from drying out.
- Next step is to fold and fill in the sheet. Prepare a cone shape with the samosa sheet so that the filling can be filled without any leakages.
- Fill in the samosa with the cheese fillings which were prepared earlier. (If you want, you can use small amounts of potato fillings along with cheese fillings)
- Keep the wrapped samosa freezer before you're ready to fry(before the oil is hot enough)
- Fry the samosa over medium heat and don’t overheat as it would make the filling to ooze out. If you’re working with multiple samosas, avoid overcrowding. Fry till you see your samosas give you a golden-brown colour.
- Take the samosas out of the skillet and serve hot with various chutneys or sauces!
Bengali Mutton Keema Samosa
Ingredients:
- 200 g minced mutton
- Peeled and cubed potatoes
- Finely chopped garlic (10 cloves)
- 1-inch stick of ginger
- Finely chopped green chilli
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 cup green peas
- 1 tsp dry roasted spice
- 1 tsp salt
- Sugar as per taste
- 2 tbsp mustard oil
For the outer shell:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp nigella seeds
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 cup of warm water
Preparation:
For the filling
- Start with heating oil in a frying pan. Add garlic and half of the green chillies after the oil is hot enough. Sauté for 1-2 minutes
- Add minced mutton to the pan and cook on medium flame. After mutton is half done, add cubed potato and rest of green chillies and cook until potato is halfway done.
- Add a mixture of turmeric powder, chilli powder and cumin powder with salt to it and then add to it peas and cook until meat and potato are look finely done.
- Add dry roasted spice on the mixture and mix well. Let the mixture cool down after it has been cooked.
For the dough
- Mesh flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour ghee into it.
- Add nigella seeds and salt into the well and mix everything lightly and make it a crumble again.
- Make a well again in this crumble now, and pour warm water in it. Keep kneading till you have a soft dough. Cover the dough and keep it for 10 minutes.
- Samosa sheets can be prepared from this dough now.
Making the samosa
- Prepare cone-shaped structures with the earlier prepared dough.
- Fill up half of the cone with the prepared filling.
- Seal the open edges and close your prepared cone. Make sure you seal correctly to avoid any leakage while frying the samosa.
- Keep the oil for heating on medium heat and put in the prepared samosa into the skillet. Make sure you don’t overheat the oil.
- Keep frying till you see your samosa turn golden in colour.
- Take them out, put them on a tissue paper to absorb access oil, and serve hot with your favourite chutneys and sauces.
- अगर इंडियन स्ट्रीट फूड का नाम सुनते ही आपके मुंह में पानी आ जाता है, तो आप इन 10 इंडियन स्ट्रीट फूड्स को अपनी जिंदगी में एक बार जरूर खाएं (2019)
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Samosa Is Much Healthier Than a Burger
Fresh food contains none of the chemicals present in ultra-processed food. And that's exactly why eating a burger may not be good for your health, as it contains preservatives, acidity regulators and an emulsifier, along with refined wheat flour, sugar, wheat gluten, edible vegetable oil, yeast, salt, soya flour, sesame seeds, vegetables, mayonnaise, cheese, and meat or potato patty. So, the next time you crave an evening snack, ditch the burger and pick up a freshly fried samosa instead!