Samosas
November 8, 2012 9:00 AM   Subscribe

The Samosa Connection

How to fold samosas

Samosa recipe from Indian Simmer, an Indian food blog with pretty pictures

Some Flickr samosa pr0n
posted by Egg Shen (46 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
So hungry right now. Thanks.
posted by Yellow at 9:08 AM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


So homesick now.
posted by dhruva at 9:08 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


brb drooling
posted by elizardbits at 9:11 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


Ah, thought it would be about getting girl scout cookies "out of season" and was pleasantly surprised it was about a food I enjoy, but rarely have the opportunity to eat.
posted by k5.user at 9:12 AM on November 8, 2012


Are you a samosa lover?

How is that even a question? I feel like you don't know me at all random samosa website.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:16 AM on November 8, 2012 [34 favorites]


someone bring me some goddamn samosas
posted by nathancaswell at 9:18 AM on November 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


This town needs a samosa truck. Actually, it needs food trucks in general. But right this second, especially a samosa truck.
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:23 AM on November 8, 2012


I was thinking of mimosas when i read samosas, but now I'm thinking mimosas and samosas.
posted by cmoj at 9:24 AM on November 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


The samosa folding site if helpful. The one time I made samosas, I worked with circles of dough. This explains why mine were not triangular. I ended up with odd, mostly round shaped samosa. They tasted good though.

I love Indian food but I haven't gotten good at cooking it yet.
posted by shoesietart at 9:24 AM on November 8, 2012


Samosas are one of the things I miss about living in NYC, particularly this place right across the street from Katz Deli. Some of the cheapest and best samosas I've ever had. In 2001 you could get, for about $2.00, a hot samosa in a cup, cracked open with spicy chaat poured over it. A lovely vegetarian lunch, dinner, or snack.

Nothing like it in SoCal.
posted by bswinburn at 9:27 AM on November 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


I had a samsa at an uzbek place just last week. The move south to India did it well.
posted by JPD at 9:27 AM on November 8, 2012


I can't really see the point of me becoming good at cooking Indian food via trial and error when there are at least 100,000 people within a 30-block radius of my current position who are not only better at it than I could ever hope to become, but will also prepare it and deliver it to me right this very minute omg yay.
posted by elizardbits at 9:28 AM on November 8, 2012 [9 favorites]


Samosas are on my list of Things to Make on an Idle Sunday and Freeze for Nomming All Through the Week. (I also do pierogies, knishes, tamales.)
posted by Kitteh at 9:32 AM on November 8, 2012


Samosas are one of the things I miss about living in NYC, particularly this place right across the street from Katz Deli

That place is great. I used to get rice and chick peas there after drinking in one of the bars around the corner.

My favorite place is actually Curry & Curry. I kinda stopped going there though, I was in there eating and they noticed me watching the TV and they turned the subtitles off. It made me really sad. I figure they don't want me there and I haven't had the heart to go back.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:36 AM on November 8, 2012


Actually, I take it all back, there are too many delicious options and this is super inconvenient and I want to cry a little bit from tasty food oversaturation and indecision.
posted by elizardbits at 9:44 AM on November 8, 2012


a samosa without corners is a ravioli, aka pierogi
posted by Fupped Duck at 9:44 AM on November 8, 2012


Samosas are one of the things I miss about living in NYC, particularly this place

I knew that link would lead to Punjabi grocery as soon as I saw "living in NYC". That place is amazing. You can tell it's going to be incredible from all the empty taxi cabs parked out front with drivers on break getting dinner inside (is that racist? here's my defense). Anyway, it's an important stop on my "check out how awesome NYC is" tour that I give to people coming in from out of town.
posted by nathancaswell at 9:45 AM on November 8, 2012


And now I know where to go for my bday dinner this month. Thanks for the inspiration.

mmmm samosas, peas, rice, paneer, pomegranate martini--perfection.
posted by stormpooper at 9:47 AM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


I also really like Bombay's on Pearl street. I really like their Dum Aloo.

I better just order Indian food.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:51 AM on November 8, 2012


Can I give a shout out to Tamil-style vegetable buns? Basically, they're samosas, but made with rising bread flour, and baked until they're puffy. They're about 80¢ each from the store at the end of my street. Om nom nom.
posted by scruss at 9:53 AM on November 8, 2012


I can't really see the point of me becoming good at cooking Indian food via trial and error when there are at least 100,000 people within a 30-block radius of my current position who are not only better at it than I could ever hope to become, but will also prepare it and deliver it to me right this very minute omg yay.

I wish I was where you are. When I was in San Francisco, Indian food was somewhat convenient, places delivered or were not too far away, and it wasn't much more expensive than Chinese. Here in Houston, Indian food is expensive and most places don't deliver. :-(
posted by shoesietart at 10:01 AM on November 8, 2012


Why are there so many songs about samosas
And what's on the chewy inside?
Samosas are tasty but only illusions
And samosas have nothing to hide.
So we are told, and some chewers believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find the Samosa Connection —
The masala, the fried dough, and me!
posted by RogerB at 10:01 AM on November 8, 2012 [13 favorites]


Those who know them, love them, while those who do not know them, love them from afar.
posted by A dead Quaker at 10:21 AM on November 8, 2012


Oh gods, I might have to trek out to my favorite Indian place. The Jewel used to be in a little strip mall 3 blocks away, and I'd walk up there for lunch at least three times a week. Then they decided to move almost out to the airport, 35 minutes away. Arrrgh! Their samosas are heavenly!
posted by MissySedai at 10:29 AM on November 8, 2012


Misread as The Samosa Collection. Expected to see fried chickpea pockets repurposed somehow as a runway line. Maybe I should just go back to work.
posted by maryr at 10:38 AM on November 8, 2012


I misread it as The Samoa Connection, and thought it was a post about Survivor or something. Not disappointed though, just wondering what to do about this odd craving at 6 am.
posted by vidur at 10:41 AM on November 8, 2012


Great. Now I want a samosa and I'm singing a song from The Muppet Movie.
posted by goethean at 10:51 AM on November 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


That is how you know it is a good day.
posted by elizardbits at 11:39 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


Samosas are kind of a big deal in my sleepy Canadian city.

On Saturdays, we have a Farmer's Market that runs in the morning where local vendors hawk their goods. You walk into the re-purposed parking lot and are immediately hit by a mix of aromas - there are southern BBQs, Greek donairs, German sausages, ready-made doughnuts and fresh Belgian waffles. It's all very good - even the accents are authentic.

Further back, inside of a nearby exhibition centre, stashed away among other vendors, there was a small Indian stand that sold samosas. When they on the scene in - oh, the early aughties - samosas were a novelty that few people in this small-medium city had been exposed to. But word-of-mouth spread quickly, more and more people picked up on their convenience and taste and this little vendor, Patel's Samosas, grew exponentially in popularity.

It turned out that Patel's popularity was to be its own downfall. At the height of it, people flocked en masse for their weekly fix. The wait for a dripping, translucent bag of samosas began to be measured in hours - not even the incumbent 'Samosa Delite', which cruelly leased space nearby, could sate the city's appetite. Other vendors began to complain about the crowds, and the entire exhibition centre smelled constantly of BO and spice. We were crazy for samosas, and thus began the Great Samosa War of 2007.

The vendors went to the city; Patel negotiated with the vendors. The city negotiated with Patel. Patel negotiated with Samosa Delite, who also negotiated with the city.

I cannot stress enough how much publicity this received - slow news days are the norm here. It was on the front page of our daily newspaper multiple times. Later, other larger-circulation media picked up on it as a bit of quirky fluff, although for us market-goers it was an issue of utmost seriousness when samosas hung in the balance. It became one of those taboo topics for first dates alongside religion and politics.

After a long, drawn-out battle, an ultimatum was laid down by the city, owner of the space: move your stands outside, in a newly cleared harder-to-reach area beside the building, or we will not renew your leases.

Samosa Delite agreed to the terms.

Patel's Samosas did not.

The stand was shut down and the (superior, IMHO) recipe was lost. We were a city in mourning. I personally couldn't help but feel a little guilty, as well, although I don't know about the others.

Now the wound has perhaps closed over. A film was planned to commemorate the event. People are back to waiting in ridiculous lines, and a new place, Yummy Samosa, has opened up next to Samosa Delite.

I guess they're okay.
posted by one of these days at 11:48 AM on November 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


I feel that a city should have malai kofta and samosas available 24 hours a day. If not, it's not civilized enough. The place I live is not civilized enough.
posted by jiawen at 12:03 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


a samosa without corners is a ravioli, aka pierogi

This is simply not true.
posted by mudpuppie at 12:06 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


Patel announced in January that she was looking to sell her catering business and with it may come her secret samosa recipe.

Whoa. Someone should put up a kickstarter to put some cash together to secure the secret samosa recipe and open source that sucker.

Speaking of which. Is there a Wikipedia/github for recipes? Now that I think about it, Rapgenius.com's annotation engine may be just the thing. All those shitty recipe sites are ripe for disruption.
posted by Ad hominem at 12:37 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


I came here thinking this would be a fpp about Nicaragua and left pleasantly surprised...and as others have said, hungry.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 12:47 PM on November 8, 2012


Samosas are awesome, no doubt. But what I miss from eating in NYC is empanadas.
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:26 PM on November 8, 2012


I've never finished eating however many samosas were available, and thought "that's enough". If I ever needed or chose to become vegetarian for any reason, I'd be fine provided I had adequate access to quality Indian food.
posted by staccato signals of constant information at 1:50 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


yayyyyy I am drunk and in Slovakia for the first time in six years (to visit a new nephew! New people are adorable!) and I have a week and a half to convert as many pirohy into body fat as I can
posted by Earthtopus at 2:05 PM on November 8, 2012


I used to make PILES of samosas and freeze them so that all the kids had to do was pop them in the microwave, or oven, depending on what we had. Potato samosas and beef samosas.
It was one of those things they liked having after school. I sometimes made sweet samosas, with a filling made from apples, almonds and either raisins or dates and brown sugar.
My kids were latch-key kids so this at least gave them something I made just for them.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:41 PM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


Maumoniat's Supermarket and Mr Riaz's vegetable shop in Leeds - 50p a chuck for a parcel of deliciousness from the box behind the counter. Usually still warm. I miss them more than words can say.
posted by ZipRibbons at 4:24 PM on November 8, 2012


Samosa recipe from a very popular post.
posted by unliteral at 8:00 PM on November 8, 2012


So hungry.
posted by homunculus at 10:25 PM on November 8, 2012


Okay, so how many people have hungrily devoured a wild orgy of samosas within the last 24h due to this thread? CONFESS.
posted by elizardbits at 8:05 AM on November 9, 2012


Today I had samosa chaat for lunch. Three times as expensive as in NYC, but twice as big.
posted by bswinburn at 1:49 PM on November 9, 2012


...Me. I have four here (along with rogan josh and basmati rice), eating my second right now while reading about the world's other stuffed pastries, feeling kinship with savory pastry lovers worldwide, as is my tradition.
posted by jake at 1:51 PM on November 9, 2012


I honestly think I'm going to cry.
posted by Space Kitty at 3:38 PM on November 9, 2012


HOLD THAT THOUGHT.

I actually have all the ingredients for samosas. Metafilter, I love you and you are forgiven.
posted by Space Kitty at 3:40 PM on November 9, 2012


Okay, samosas, great. Love 'em.
Even begged a friend for her mom's recipe just last weekend.
Hmm, recipe looks decent.
Even says to serve with tamarind and cilantro chutneys.
Now where are the links to those recipes?
WHAT?
sigh
Nothing can be perfect, can it?
posted by Seamus at 7:49 AM on November 10, 2012


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