Dec 18, 2021
The first mention of samosa can be found around the 10th or 11th century in the Middle East, in historian Abolfazl Beyhaqi's work Tarikh-e Beyhaghi, where it is referred to as sambosa. In its original form, as made in the kitchens of the Ghaznavid empire (the Turkic dynasty who ruled parts of northern India first under Mahmud Ghazni), samosas were pasties filled with meat and dried fruit and then deep fried. We don't know when exactly it assumed its current form, filled with simply minced meat or potatoes and peas. But we do know that when Akbar annexed the Malwa Sultanate in 1562 CE, the Ni'mmatnama (a medieval Persian cookbook) was procured by the Mughals, and subsequently by the sultanate's kitchens too.
Sonal Ved, author
