Where Do You Get The Best Samosas in India?

On a chilly day, nothing can quite beat the pairing of one cup of chai, I tend to favour ginger tea a bit here, and steaming samosas. And what’s rather interesting is that while this savoury snack is popular across the country, each state pretty much has its own version. For instance the Punjabi samosa is dominated by potatoes and peas, with raisins and cashews added in to enhance the flavour. In Gujarat, the patti samosa is quite popular. And this one is stuffed with finely chopped potatoes that are allowed to cook in the oil as the samosa is fried. The patti is also made with wheat flour instead of maida (refined flour) because cabbage is often an important ingredient, and refined flour can’t quite hold that ingredient together.

The Bengali samosa, which is referred to as the singara, uses potatos and peas, and cauliflower, and even peanuts for a little crunch. Even though it’s hot thanks to the chillies used, it’s much milder than other samosas when it comes to the spice factor. In Karnataka, onion samosas is a big hit, as is keema samosa, made popular by some of the local bakeries. In Delhi, apart from the potato samosa, the one with keema, khova, or even moong dal are quite popular. Now let’s go on a samosa trail, looking for some of the best in different parts of the country.

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The Famous Snack in Delhi

Manohar Dhaba in Chandni Chowk serves what is known as the Japani Samosa and no one know why it’s called so. However, it apparently has 60 layers of flour, and is filled with potatoes. It’s served with chhole and a pickle. Munni Lal Halwai at Gole Market is famous for the classic potato samosa. Served with mint chutney, this shop seems to have perfected the recipe.

Kumar Samose Wala near Milan Cinema in Karampura has quite a surprising range of samosas – starting with ones filled with peas and paneer, sweet corn, moong dal, vegetarian keema paneer, and even chowmein!

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Mumbai’s Samosa Eateries

Most samosa addicts of Mumbai will direct you to Sion where an eatery called Guru Kripa has been dishing out tons of samosas every day. In fact, it’s said that they supply the city with almost one third of its samosas across various outlets, and even movie theatres. Their Chana Dal Samosa is extremely popular; try their chilled samosas too – it can be an interesting experience. Candies in Bandra is popular for many things, and their samosas are just one of the reasons. They make mini samosas with vegetables, and with keema, and even the Punjabi samosa is worth a shot. They come in mini and large sizes too.

Gulati’s in Andheri East is famous for their fresh samosas, served piping hot. Fried in vanaspati, the pastry is known to be near perfect. But then again, personal opinions do tend to matter. Hearsch Bakery, on Hill Road, Bandra West, sells four different kinds of samosas, and of them the mutton mince is quite popular. You also get mini samosas here that are sold by the dozen. And if you want a sweet samosa, try the one stuffed with mewa at Merwans Cake Shop in Andheri West.

(Recipe: Gujarati Samosa)

Kolkata’s Love for Singara

The samosa or singara in Kolkata is practically woven in to the Bengali food culture. And it’s often served with sweet jalebis. Across stores, you get different varieties of the samosa. While most serve the more commercially viable samosa, the true flavour of the singara remains in the hands of the local sweetshops; stuffed with peas and potatoes and peanut, and if the shop is slightly upmarket, you’ll also find bits of cauliflower florets in it.

Tewari Sweets in Bara Bazaar is still known to have some of the best samosas in town, perfecting the art of spicing the filling, and frying the pastry in ghee. Deckers Lane and BBD Bag are known for their street food and this is also where you’ll find some of the best Bengali and North Indian samosas. Mrityunjoy Ghosh & Sons on Sarat Bose Road, a century-old rundown sweetshop, is also quite popular for their Bengali samosa, stuffed with cauliflower of course.

Recipe: Punjabi Samosa

Chennai's Range of Samosas

Chennai has a few samosa stores it can boast about. Located in Anna Nagar is The Samosa Factory that serves up some decent ones. The Chinese samosa seems to be quite popular – filled with cabbage, beans, carrots, and potatoes, and cooked in soy and chillies – and is, let’s put it this way, interesting. Tucked away in Adayar is Rajpal’s Street Snacks, which serves rather good samosas too. The pastry and the filling are cooked just right.

Bombay Lassi on Ellis Road, apart from its lassi, is rather popular for their samosas too, and you get to eat them with sweet brown, and a green tangy dip. The Tirunelveli Halwa Stall, located on Valluvar Kottam High Road, is yet another place to go for the samosa in Chennai. The make fresh batches twice a day, and that contributes to the popularity of the place. Or, you could just head over to Sowcarpet to treat yourself to lots of those deep-fried triangles in plenty of tiny stores that dot the area.

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Bengaluru's Keema Variant

Think of samosas in Bengaluru and you’re reminded of Albert Bakery’skeema samosas. They’re as crunchy as it can get, and decadent. If you have a slightly posh palate, most of the five star hotel coffee shops serve the samosa. But the flavour truly is on the streets. From the onion varietythat is served at tiny roadside tea stalls across the city, to some of the popular sweetshops, one can literally find all kinds of samosas in the city. Banchharam, with its three outlets (Koramangala, Marathahalli, and Ulsoor), probably serves the best Bengali singara in the city. The ones at Bhagatram Sweets in Commercial Street are considered to be one of the best in town though.

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