Difference between Indian and Pakistan Samosas

August 21, 2015

Samosas are a delicious fried or baked pastry filled with savoury fillings. This is a popular dish in countries such as Nepal, Burma, India and Pakistan. Samosas are commonly eaten in Indian and Pakistani restaurants and they are traditionally eaten as an entrée or as a snack.

The two countries have a slight variation in the way they fill their Samosas.

Indian Samosa

In India, samosas are generally filled with onion, green peas, mashed boiled potatoes, green chilli and spices. Samosas are usually served with fresh Indian chutney such as coriander tamarind and mint.

Northern states India such as Delhi and Madhya Pradesh has a larger version of Samosa, compared to the other Indian and foreign variation, it is often filled with spicy filling of peas, crushed green chillies, masala potatoes and dried fruits as well as other variations.

This is a quite popular variation of the Indian food. Shingaras is an Eastern Indian version of the Samosa, seen in Odisha, West Bengal, and Bihar. This is often served with ketchup or chutney.

The filling consists mainly of small pieces of unmashed boiled potato with the optional ingredients. The Shingaras are typically sweeter in taste. A good Shingara is distinguished by the flaky texture.

In South India, they are different from the way they are folded, generally served without chutney the samosa is filled with a variety of variations such as, spiced mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, fried onions, curry leaves, green chillies and cabbage.

The Southern Indian samosa comes in different sizes and the filling is inspired by the food habits of the locals.

Pakistan Samosa

Most variation of the Samosa in the southern Sindh province and in the Eastern Punjab, is spicier and mostly contains vegetables or potatoes related fillings.

In the West and North of the country, the samosa is usually filled with minced meat fillings and is less spicy.

The filling is usually lamb or chicken and is a popular snack for Pakistani food. In Pakistan Samosas in Karachi are famous for their spiciness, compared to Faisalabad where they are noted for being unusually large.

Another variation of samosa available in Karachi is called Kaghazi samosa which is translated to “paper samosa” due to it being thin and crispy, similar to a spring-roll.

In Punjab samosas traditionally comes with a side dish of mashed, spiced chickpeas, onions and coriander salad, with various chutney to top the samosas.

The samosa is usually filled with potatoes, onions, lentils peas and chicken or lamb minced meat.

At Royal Nawaab London we serve both traditional Indian food and Pakistani food, with delicious varieties, our customers are treated to the authentic Indian and Pakistani cuisine experience.