Just Walking Around

Interval ka mazaa…….Samose ke Saath.

If you are an avid movie buff and like to watch Bollywood / Hollywood movies on 70 mm in a single screen theater with the regular Aam junta like me .Enjoying the roller-coaster ride of action emotion, comedy and drama … thoda rona –dhona …thodi hasi aur bahut sara family fun and when the cinema screen flashes the sign of Intermission rush out to the snack counter with only one mission get that hot packets of , yes you guessed it right Samosaaaa…

Did you you know that more than 80% of the single screens across Mumbai serve that special crispy triangulated deep fried snack known as Samosa made by only one vendor and is famously known as A1 Samosa.They are among the most famous samosa makers in Mumbai. They make abouth 15000-18000 samosas a day and supply more 30 movie halls in the city.

Those crunchy, spicy, potato-filled triangles of happiness can make a bad movie tolerable and a good movie awesome! But to get an A-1 samosa, you don’t have to go to the  cinema, where they’re priced quite high. At their main shop in Sion, near my house, it’s 12 rupees a samosa.

The shop’s nothing fancy, and it’s often hidden from view behind a row of parked vehicles. But it's always bustling with customers. The Punjabi samosa is their classic offering – it’s the potato-filled one you get in all the theatres. Their other favourites are the Cheese-Corn Samosa and the Chinese Samosa. The Chinese ones are stuffed with bright red, schezwan-flavoured noodles – but they’re really not as strange as they sound. They also have a sweet vairiety in the Sweet Mawa Samosas but I have never tried it myself,. Do let me know how it tastes if any of you ever get top eat one. A recent addition is the Palak Paneer Samosa They are  filled with paalak and paneer (spinach and cottage cheese). Bu t if you ask nme which wiould I pick with doubt it will be thoier classic Punjabi Samosa.

A-1 was established more than 40 years ago by Kishanchand Nevendram, a Sindhi who came to Mumbai from Karachi, after the Partition. He is said to have left everything he had behind in Karachi. His grandson now owns the business.

There are two locations where the samosas are made: the first is at Champaklal Estate, Sion East. Here, the masala / stuffing is made, and the samosas are rolled into their typical triangular shape. From Champaklal, it is taken to the A-1 outlet in Sion West, where the samosas are first 'half-fried' and kept ready. Then they are deep fried in batches and brought out front. From here, they're distributed to retail shops, cinemas, school and office canteens, caterers and party organisers. As each batch gets sold or distributed, new batches are deep fried.

The distribution process is interesting: there is an army of freelance entreprenuers on cycles, who buy samosas from A-1 daily, and sell them to various buyers across the city. Typically they have a 1 rupee margin per samosa. Sales are made in lots of 150 or 250 samosas (there is a weighing machine, so the samosas are placed on trays and weighed, not counted). Each freelance entrepreuner has his own set of contacts/buyers across the city to whom he sells.

So if you go to A-1 at any time of the day, you can see hot samosas, coming right out of giant iron woks, being piled into trays, then loaded on cycles and being taken away. The large trays you see in this photo above can hold 250.So if you're ever walking around in Sion, don't forget to stop by at A-1 samosa.

If you ask me Samosa is to the North Indians what vada pav is to us Maharashtrians. An any time snack and served best with a hot piping cutting chai – adrak mar ke.

What’s rather interesting is that while this savory 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.

If in Delhi head to the Manohar Dhaba in Chandni Chowk that 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. Another famous samosa specialist is Munni Lal Halwai at Gole Market , he is famous for the classic potato samosa. Served with mint chutney, this shop seems to have perfected the recipe. And At 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!

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.

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.

Most famous Samosa wala is 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.

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.

Think of samosas in Bengaluru and you’re reminded of Albert Bakery’s keema 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 variety that is served at tiny roadside tea stalls across the city, to some of the popular sweet shops, 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.

So next you are in mood for a fried snack with your cuppa of chai just go for this puckka desi snack of Samosa . eat away at the cruchy outer cover and bite in to the masale wala alu stuffing , dip it in the mint chutney or that plate of hot chole mixed with sweet and spicy imli ki chutney.. Lipsmacking and to die for.