Persia → Mughal India (and beyond)
Samosa
A deep-fried pastry triangle stuffed with spiced potatoes, peas, and cumin — South Asia's defining snack, with parallels from Cairo to Cape Town.
Maida dough, not phyllo.
Indian samosa pastry is plain flour (*maida*), oil, and water — kneaded firm, rested 30 minutes, rolled thin. The dough is sturdy enough to hold its shape during frying and crisp enough to shatter at first bite. Filo or spring-roll wrappers (used in some diaspora versions) give a different texture — thinner, lacier, less substantial. The Indian *maida* version is the original; the variations are real but not the textbook.
4 · Plate
Persia → Mughal India (and beyond)
Samosa
A deep-fried pastry triangle stuffed with spiced potatoes, peas, and cumin — South Asia's defining snack, with parallels from Cairo to Cape Town.
A dish that has travelled further than most. The Persian sanbosag — a meat-filled pastry triangle — was already being recorded in 10th-century Iranian cookbooks; it travelled with traders and Sufi mystics into Central Asia, India, North Africa, and the Levant, becoming Indian samosa, Egyptian sambousek, Tunisian brik, Ethiopian sambusa, and Portuguese chamuça in Goa. Each version is a recognisable cousin; each is local to its place.
The Indian samosa’s vegetarian-potato form is a relatively recent variation. Earlier Indian samosas were almost always lamb-stuffed, following the Persian original. The potato-and-pea version emerged in colonial-era Mumbai and Delhi as a cheaper, vegetarian-friendly alternative, and gradually became the default — to the point that most Indians today think of “samosa” as the potato version. The lamb-filled keema samosa still exists; it’s now the regional and historical version rather than the standard.
Chutney on both sides.
Two dipping chutneys are the Indian standard: green coriander-and-mint chutney for the bright fresh side, and tamarind-jaggery chutney for the dark sweet-sour side. A samosa on its own is fine; with both chutneys it's the full snack. *Chana chaat* (a chickpea-and-yogurt topping over a broken-open samosa) is the upgraded version sold by street vendors in the late afternoon.