Samosas of Mughal India
Vložit
- čas přidán 17. 01. 2022
- Use code TASTINGHISTORY16 for up to 16 FREE MEALS + 3 Surprise Gifts across 6 HelloFresh boxes plus free shipping at bit.ly/32fHZYT
Support the Channel with Patreon ► / tastinghistory
Merch ► crowdmade.com/collections/tas...
Instagram ► / tastinghistorywithmaxm...
Twitter ► / tastinghistory1
Tiktok ► TastingHistory
Reddit ► r/TastingHistory
Discord ► / discord
Amazon Wish List ► amzn.to/3i0mwGt
Send mail to:
Tasting History
PO Box 766
Burbank, CA 91503
LINKS TO INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT**
Sony Alpha 7C Camera: amzn.to/2MQbNTK
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens: amzn.to/35tjyoW
Sumac: amzn.to/3fsTejj
Ghee: amzn.to/3tqDyp9
LINKS TO SOURCES**
Ain-i Akbari by Abul' Fazl: amzn.to/3fma5EM
The Baburnama by Babur: amzn.to/34DTnOO
Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham: amzn.to/3K9ug6J
Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India by Colleen Taylor Sen: amzn.to/3tqlcEA
Indian Food: A Historical Companion by K. T. Achaya: amzn.to/3rgGLF1
**Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Tasting History will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Each purchase made from these links will help to support this channel with no additional cost to you. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose
PHOTO CREDITS
Saag Chicken: Jules via flickr.com - CC BY 2.0
Biryani: Rupamdas75, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Sumac: By Oneconscious at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Indonesian samosa: By Ibra Bintang - Own workPreviously published: Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Israeli sambusak: By Maor X - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Portuguese chamucas: By Sharon Hahn Darlin - Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores (Açores) Archipelago, Portugal, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Samosa recipe: Soniya Goyal from Jaipur, India, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
Jackfruit: By Augustus Binu, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Haggis: Tess Watson, CC BY 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
#tastinghistory #samosa #indianfood
What other Indian dishes would you like to see an episode on?
Well there are so many historical ones like the rice pudding I can't choose 🤤
Soan Papdi
Drinking History suggestion: Burhani, a kind of spiced buttermilk that kinda has some mughal heritage. The origins are kinda debatable tho. Might wanna look into it.
Edit: oh I forgot to mention, one of the modern ingredients in Burhani is *ketchup*
After the hot poop I had after an Indian meal in London, I’m scared 😳
Aloo Gobi please. I love this dish so much I could cry,
Regarding the salt: the traditional salt preparation methods they used at the time (I saw a Business Insider episode on this traditional Indian salt making) may have left the salt slightly wet (not fully dehydrated) and/or full of lots of minerals, and therefore less "salty" per pound than what you currently use in your kitchen today.
And probably to compansate for the heat
That's so interesting! And would make a lot of sense.
Also, depending on what type of salt (ie table salt, sea salt, rock salt, etc.) The volume to weight ratio is different. For example one tablespoon of table salt is way more salt by weight than a table spoon of sea salt
Kind of like Celtic gray salt today
On top of that, I'm betting the salt was part preservative, as well!
I think what takes Max the most time is not cooking or even researching his recipes. But which Pokemon plushie would be the most thematically appropriate
José helps with that part.
What’s this one
@@aryaaswale7316 it's Phanpy. An elephant, for regional theming, I'm guessing. Poke Fact: Phanpy is territorial about their nests!
Copperajah would've also been appropriate.
@@crickett3536 More facts! Despite it's compact size, it can easily carry an adult human on it's back!
I'm imagining Babur now on TripAdvisor giving everything in India a one star rating 😄
LOL
😂
Imagine him conquering so many lands just because he was sick and tired of the poor food offerings lol
😂😂
Most of Indians really hate babur for his religious intolerance and iconolocast poliices
I worked for a Punjabi family for almost 20 years, my bosses wife used to bring Samasos in for lunch all the time, they are sooooooo good.
@Dale Hammers You should ask your *boss's* (note the correct spelling) wife for a class that you all could take so as to learn from her how to make them. I am sure she would appreciate the compliment to her cooking!
Wait, your bosses all shared one wife?! Oh, poor woman!
@@taitano12i think they mean boss's wife
@@Pandabreadie I was poking fun at the grammar, silly. 😜
@@Pandabreadie I was poking fun at the grammar, silly. 😜
Indian salt in the 15th century would have been cut, usually with rice husk powder or other moisture absorbers, for storage. Actually, any "salt" in the 15th century would have contained lots of still edible but foreign packing materials. Additionally people in the Mughal homeland would have gotten their salt from the rock salt mines in Pakistan and the Himalayas (yes, the famous "Himalayan salt") so it's nothing like the pure salt we have now that's usually obtained from evaporation.
Now I wonder how this dish would taste with Himalayan salt. Heh. Gonna be some really expensive samosas there.
Fascinating factoid, thanks for the knowledge drop 🙏
Yeah I was thinking that too, we have all that nice pure salt , brightly white these days but even then I have noticed some seassalts not having the same effects it must have been way worse back then.
Southern India mostly used evaporated salts. Salt evaporation ponds were a common occurrence along the southern coast of India. Even places close to the Mughal empire(Gujarat) had salt evaporation ponds, given the abundance of sea salt and add to that the fact that moved salt is baked and make into black salt and used alongside regular salt and not as a substitute, it is feasible that sea salt was most likely the salt of choice.
I don't know so much about the salt being cut with rice husk. While the practice of using dried rice husk as a desiccant is still followed to this day to store palm sugar and other hygroscopic materials, it is never 'mixed' with the product. Rather the warehouse is bedded with a thick layer of rice husk to keep the room dry instead of mixing it with the salt/ sugar. It is however possible those were volumetric measures and not weight measures (as volumetric measures were more common at the time). The very fact that salt crystals would have been larger back then ( compared to the fine crystals of table salt we get today) would have meant less of the salt fits into the same volume ( say a tablespoon) which could explain the extra salt. I would also point out that Indian cuisine is more generous with salt than European or even American cuisine.
Higher salt would also help preserve meat in days before refrigeration.
I knew someone would have an explanation! Lol. I was thinking something similar that it must have been diluted or a weaker version of salt somehow. Cool!
In modern-Day Iran Qutab is a bite-sized sweet. Filled with pistachios/walnuts but mostly almonds. It is Frist fried in a pan. Then glazed with a rosewater syrup.
Sounds absolutely delicious.
@@JudgeNicodemus and relatively simple.
I’m drooling for that.
It sounds amazing
What is the equivalent of samosa in Iran?
In Nigeria, we have finger foods that are popularly referred to as “Small Chops”, and for some time now, Samosas, Puff-puffs & spring rolls have been star players.
Oh yeah. Honestly, while not exactly Nigerian 'cuisine', it goes hard.
That is very interesting! I don't usually think of samosas and other influences from India as playing a big role in the cuisine or culture of the opposite end of the African continent. Spring rolls I can actually see maybe more, only because they're from Southeast Asia and I know there is at least some influence on West Africa due to colonial trade. For instance batik is of course extremely popular in traditional clothing; it may even be the single thing conjured up most immediately in the global imagination when you hear the word "Africa"! But samosa definitely I would think Kenya and so forth, not Nigeria.
This show is better than anything I've seen on the history channel or food network. Keep going good sir you are entertaining.
Thank you 🙏
I never thought a ruthless conqueror's diary entries on fruit would be so... pleasant to read.
seriously ruthless, but there's always a different side to every person that's just so surprising
Except the haggis tree. Which is the stuff of nightmares
I know, right? I wonder if there is a diary of sorts out there somewhere in a bookstore with his poetic entries? 🤔
A lot of great minds have an ability to really see things in their mind and be descriptive about it in a way that appeals to all of us such people might make good writers too, i do the same thing and it's like your thoughts are a lot more in your face somewhat vivid but nevertheless it's right there which can be a curse as much as a blessing cos of any unpleasant thoughts.
It's like a scene playing out in front and you can really get into it but easy to get stuck in your own head lol. A natural talent for the arts too because you just know how to go with it and easily adapt to how the lines are supposed to be said.
@@sabao4792 That’s also because ruthless people would be hated by others, showing only the negative image when history is viewed by outsiders (especially the ones who got conquered). What modern people need to know today is that everyone was still human, no matter how cruel they were.
As an Indian person, I LOVE seeing people trying samosas. Reminds me of my mom and how she used to make them. Pro-tip from mom and me: instead of slicing and dicing your garlic and ginger, grate them on either a microplane or the finest setting of a box grater. This will turn the garlic and ginger into a fine paste that will provide you with more flavor and disperse more evenly into the cooked food.
Would a garlic press work? (At least on garlic. I'm not sure what it would do with ginger.)
@@beth12svist for ginger that's a maybe, cause it's got those little fibers, not sure how that would interact with the press. If you have a cheese grater that's great, but they also make a little board with spikes for shredding ginger to a paste. Works good for carrots too.
@@samwinter9749 Graters with all kinds of surfaces are common where I live, actually. Cleaning that spiky side is always a mess, though...
Gonna try that next time I make Samosas! Thank you! 👍
What's the best vegetarian filling? I'm getting ideas for my aunt.
I think it’s the cutest thing ever that your husband puts out different Pokémon plushies for every episode 😭❤️
I didn't know that's who is doing that, that's so sweet 🥺
He's gay???? Just when I didn't think this channel could get any better❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
That is a Whole Love Language.
@@potatonope9774 bruh how does that make this channel better or worse?
@@arghachowdhury some people just like to be represented somewhat
A most engaging history lesson from a culinary perspective. By the way, in the south of India where I lived, beef, mutton and chicken samosas were commonly available everywhere, particularly in Muslim-majority neighbourhoods (in big cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Madras.)
Beef samosa? Maybe in your city. I have never seen anyone selling those in my life.
@@RaghunandanReddyC Beef samosas are very common in Kerala, and damn tasty as well.
In ancient times, salt was often adulterated with ground up rice, or other white powders. The quantities called for in the original recipe probably reflect those adulturations.
@@cesaravegah3787
Perhaps "adulterated" was the wrong word. If you tried to ship/transport pure salt, it would tend to crystallize into what essentially amounted to rocks. By adding rice (or other similar) starch the salt would remain granular - kind of like the way powdered sugar has a starch added to it today, to prevent clumping and crystallization. I'm sure (however) that merchants and traders didn't worry too much about adding relatively excessive amounts of (considerably cheaper) rice flour to the (much more expensive) salt. In that case, adulterated just might be the right word.
See I kind of figured that the answer to why so much salt was that the salt they were using wasn't that salty.
Another thing, is that they used salt as a preservative. It's said ik the video that this were often made to last long, so they probably used way too much salt because of that
Dang, salt was "stepped on" back in the day....lololol
Salt is cheaper than rice no point adulterating with it
While meat samosas are less common in India today, they're far from gone! lamb kheema is a common filling, although often using a pastry that resembles phyllo, as opposed to the kind of doughy pastry used here and in potato-pea samosas.
And of course in Kerala beef is still eaten despite national politics. Samosas are also eaten all over coastal Africa
Interestingly, kheema has it’s roots from the Greek keema, a carryover from Alexander the Great having annexed the region way back in the day.
My Punjabi neighbor makes potato samosas, with cashews for some protein. They are amazing!
Potato pea samosas are all I need. I could eat them all day
@@GirdsHerStrength That sounds delicious!
Babur also didn't like weather of Hindustan because of enormous heat and humidity and long rainy months. He liked Kabul because it resembled him his homeland, especially Samarkand. Being surrounded by mountains, Kabul had pleasant and balanced climate. He even planted Samarkand grapes in his Kabul garden. And after he passed away, Babur's surrounding wanted to bury him in Delhi but his Pashto wife insisted in fulfilling Babur's last will and took his remains to Kabul.
Soooo....
What's the point of invading, settling and butchering millions of people in mediaeval India?
Babur was a genocidal maniac like most islamic rulers
I spent a chunk of my childhood in the same places (Ferghana valley) and I can attest that the food and fruits there (melons, yes!) are still awesome.
True fergana valley food is good
Верно. Вы из Андижана?
@@erturtemirbaev5207 Худжанд, тогда ещё Ленинабад. Семья отца там жила.
Oh boy! An Indian cuisine! Ever since the rice pudding I’ve wanted more! God I’m always so thankful for finding this channel!
Just tried an indian rice pudding at a restaurant 3 days ago. It was divine! Love indian cuisine.
I thought samosas were from central asia?
LOL i know right? it's so delicious lots of us here in the UK just love indian food we have chicken curry every week with chickpeas in there and although i would like it quite spicy my parents don't do that as much, my bro loves chilli sauce. We have a chilli with a mexican twist with kidney beans and chickpeas in that too but having it spicy just brings out the flavours.
Check out madu veda
@@lavona8204 you got your spelling a bit wrong, but I agree! South Indian dishes are extremely underappreciated when talking about Indian cuisine. Definitely give Medu Vadas a try, the best way I can describe them is Savory doughnut. It's quite dense yet fluffy. And has such subtle flavours, that you can use anything as your dipping sauce. Traditionally it'd be coconut chutney and sambhar. But the chutneys can be customised.
I'm gonna apologize for being pedantic beforehand, but the Mughals never actually referred to themselves as Mughals/Mongols. Instead they called themselves the Gurkaniyan, which is the dynasty of Timur. Timur played a much bigger role in Mughal identity, in fact, the Ain-i Akbar that this recipe comes from also has a lengthy section on the lineage of Mughal emperors and there Genghis Khan is only named fairly briefly while a lot of attention is paid to Timur. Babur also refers to "Moghuls" as a different group of people from himself in the Baburnama. Timur did in turn use the Mongol lineage as a way to legitimize himself but by the time the Mughals were seated in India the Mongols were no longer a main source of identity
Yes Gurkani empire
Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire,[39] which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, and this was the term preferred by the Mughals themselves.[40]
The Mughal designation for their own dynasty was Gurkani (Persian: گورکانیان, Gūrkāniyān, meaning "sons-in-law").[41] The use of "Mughal" and "Moghul" derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of "Mongol", and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty.[42] The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists.[43] Similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including "Mogul" and "Moghul".[44][45] Nevertheless, Babur's ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture.[46]
Another name for the empire was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire.[47] In the west, the term "Mughal" was used for the emperor, and by extension, the empire as a whole.[48]
Yes they saw themselves as Turks
I watched this documentary where they tell that Timur kinda put a curse on whoever opened his tomb, and some Russian archaeologists opened it...the day the Germans invaded them on WWII.
@@Nikki-tx6kh Interesting if true. What's amusing is goobers that actually believe in curses. I wonder how they explain the weeks/months of planning the Germans did beforehand.
It's funny - I know full well the channel name is "Tasting *History* with Max Miller", Max discusses the history behind the food in *every* episode ... and yet I still get so engrossed in the video that it's always a (delightful!) surprise when the history portion starts.
Really great to make old Indian recipes, one of the reasons being is that people think New world ingredients are traditional, hard to imagine the cuisine without chillies, tomatoes, and potatoes but there you have it.
Alot of other options are available to replace them. Instead of Tomato my mom (Indian ofc) still uses tamarind.
''he was descendant of genghis khan'' wow, that narrows it down alot!
Geneticists studying the old Mongol Empire found about 8 percent of the men descend from Genghis Khan.
Yeah every person in around those parts claims to be that.
@@joedumas3362 Truly the Father of his Country. And every other country the Mongols went through
Having trace amounts of genetic descent, and having royal descent that can actually be traced through lineage are two different things.
@@realtalk6195 Mmm, wouldn't "genetic descent" and "lineage" be the same thing even if they didn't involve titles?
An old recipe with actual measurements is as surprising as it is delightful
Now if only there were instructions 😂
Suppose you can't have it all
@@Crazypixiness The brits could.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 haha having it is easy, holding it is the hard part
@@naamadossantossilva4736 in what way
You can have measurements or you can have directions. You can't have both.
There are a LOT of different fillings you can use in samosas.
Potatoes (like you said) and other vegetables (usually peas), onion masala, paneer, basically every combination of vegetables and/or meat there is.
Some are more popular than others, but samosas are very customizable.
Without forgetting chowmin samose and the other atrocities... 😂
I love to hear the stories of the beautiful medieval world of the Middle East and South and Central Asia. I'm deeply sad to see what became of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and the other ancient lands that were once places of high culture, scholarship, civilization, and enterprise.
I Totally agree 💯👍 Its so sad to see what is happening in Afghanistan:(
Iran is still okay - as in the Persians are quite educated and woke. It's just the government that is disgusting.
Please learn something about ancient Indian empires and civilization, buddhism, vedic culture, jaining and Indian influence of South East Asia.
@@munmunsarkar1726 Yes, as an Indian there's a lot to be proud of!
@@zahur5254the Iranians have the highest rate of homosexuality and feminism, it's just the government that is rigid
if you need to find sumac, or want to forage it, 1) make sure the sumac is bright red and stands upright on the stalk, and 2) it is literally everywhere in southern Ontario and should be harvested in spring or summer. Furthermore, do check this with at least 3 sources, at least one of which is a book on local flora because poison sumac is a thing. Have a good day!
It's all over Michigan as well. I remember raiding sumac near my childhood home in Dexter, MI.
@@barnett25 It's all over the UK too. They are known as vinegar trees, as the big seed cones when dried mimic vinegar in flavour. Beware if you plant one though, within a year you will have another 10. They spread via suckers, and boy do they grow...
There's like a dozen different species of sumac in North America. For those of us in California, our local Rhus species look a little different from the East Coast/Canadian ones but the fruits can be put to the same use, though I'd recommend growing your own if you want to make a regular habit of it.
the berries of poison sumac are generally white and different from the usually red fruits of the edible sumac species, and don't have the same style of spiky clusters common in the good stuff. once you know what they look like, it's easy to tell the difference!
In Southern California where Max is located, there are multiple species of wild sumac, and I wouldn’t recommend eating any of them without serious research and preparation. So probably a good idea for him to just order some.
Maybe he just loved his food salty? In an age with salt used as a preservative developing a tolerance for salt is probably common. Especially if the alternative is to go hungry.
Makes sense
I'm tempted to think they used very moist salt in that time and space, maybe taken from the sea and not dried very much. Depending on how much -not- dried it was it might have had only a fourth of the saltiness of the absolutely dry salt we buy today.
@@Olfan Salt in a liquid form? That is essentially how the Romans did it with their Garum sauce that they had to almost anything since, apart from the fish it was mostly salt.
@@michaelpettersson4919 I was thinking in the direction of flakey sea salt (we once had some that was so wet you could form "snow balls" out of it), but entirely liquid salt is also an interesting thought.
I think the salt is for preservation
Late to the party (as usual). A lot of ancient flours would have had a variety of yeasts from atmospheric contamination. Given the various resting periods in this recipe, there would have been some rising even without adding sugar to the dough.
We forget how sterilised our production of staples has become.
The recipe that I followed when I first made samosas years ago specified chickpea flour, which I suspect is a more traditional ingredient.
This is by far the most historically correct background of samosa I've heard.
You made the dough almost exactly like how my family makes it but to achieve that flakyness you need to make samosa “chapati” very thin. You can even make two small dough balls and put them over each other and role them so thin that you can see light through it and that should give you a crispy samosa.
Exactly how my grandma does it too!
Love from Pakistan
If the salt was measured in volume their salt may have been cragly crystals of salt which would yield a lot less salt per tablespoon compared to our small uniform kosher or table salt.
He said it was measured by weight ^^
@@krankarvolund7771 I might have misremembered but I thought he said that the seer was weight but the dam was volume. Idk
@@jasoncronin9145 Yes. The recipe specified 1/2 seer of salt. That's nearly a pound. The dam is 20 grams. Both are weight measures. Old Indo-Persian recipes were designed around market measures, not household ones like in Victorian England, and markets in Central Asia always worked by weight.
That's what I figured too
So would Himalayan salt crystals work/ be more historically accurate?
They did not consider themselves as successors of Gengiz Khan, but Timur the Lame. Timurid Gurkhans was the designation they used. Babur's father himself was from Timurs family.
Babur sounding like a teenage girl writing a blog in a teen series.😅
Finally caught up with you on this video after watching through your whole playlist, Max. What a lucky find it was for me, when Shadiversity mentioned your channel. Not a single minute I spend here was wasted! Food AND history? What more could you ask for?
I hope you keep on doing this for a long, long time! I will be here for all of it!
Thank you for crossing over :D
Welcome to the "Tasting History Family". 😁
Gather your party before venturing forth
Babur's fascination with Uzbek melons is totally justified if you've ever eaten melons from the Fergana Valley. I'm from Uzbekistan and I miss those melons everyday living in the United States. You also said he called himself a mongol but when looking at the linguistics of the area he would be speaking Chigatai language putting him more into a Turkic language group which is very different from Mongolian. I think using language to determine culture is usually the most accurate and best representative of the culture rather than what modern western writers say about historical figures of the east.
Mug’al deb 18-19 asrda inglizlar qo’ygan nom bilan dunyoga tanilgan. Ammo Bobur o’zini Turk yoki Temuriy larmiz deya tanishtirgan. Buni sal tarixni tushungan odam biladi.
The Chagatai khaganate ruled Uzbekistan from the second son of Genghis Khan and his descendants. The ruling class was Mongol, although the people they ruled over were Turkic people (the Mongols ruled over people from other ethnicities throughout their empire such as Persians, Europeans, Chinese, Indian, etc). As said in the video, Babur came from Timur and Genghis Khan's family, and was part of the ruling class thereby making him a Mongol.
@@sabyasachibandyopadhyay8558 dude how many turks were there among mongol army? Do you really think it was only mongols who fought? It was mostly Turks. That’s only reason within 40-50 years they Turkified and islamized. They did not speak mongolian they spoke Turkic. They did not pray like tegrism they prayed like muslims. Nothing Mongolian left. Golden horde official language Turkic kipchak
Chigatay khanate language Turkic (karluk)
Ilkhanate ruling class Turkic but arabic and persian were also in use.
Your name could be anything what did you claim and how you lived will tell who really they were. Babur or Timur none spoke mongolian or claimed to be Tengri followers.
They all said they are Turk and Muslim.
@@user-wp7kg6qw1g you are absolutely right. I didn't say Uzbeks are of Mongol descent (although I am pretty sure there's some intermixing). I spoke solely about Babur. Babur claimed descent from Genghis and Timur in Babur-nama. Akbar (Babur's grandson) produced a book called Zafar-nama which is a collection of battle stories of Timur. These people clearly wanted to be associated with Timur and Genghis Khan. Culturally speaking, Babur styled himself as a Persian. Check out the Mughal flag, you will find the same Lion and Sun (Sher-o-Khurshid) as that of the Shah of Iran. When Humayun was driven out of India by Sher Shah Suri, he sought asylum in the Safavid Persian court. The Mughals brought Persian music and food to India. The Mughal armies on the other hand were an amalgamation of Indians, Afghans, Persians and a few Turks.
If you want to use language as ethnicity then they spoke Persian more. That's why we have more Persian influence in hindi sand arabic in second
What you just made is called shingara in the Bengal region. The distinction between shingara and samosa here is that shingara tends to have softer and more crumbly dough, while samosas have a more crunchy dough.
Samosa/Sambusa are also really popular in East Africa. There's a great channel called Acholi Pride where Eunice did a video called 'African village girl's life//making tasty meat samosa from scratch,' where she makes samosa in her village, the way they're sold all over EA. It's interesting that she's in northern Uganda and calls them samosa and I'm south in Rwanda where we call them sambusa. They are always fried here.
It has no chili peppers in it. I'm in love. I'm allergic to chilies, but I love all the other flavors of Indian food.
The recipe is (fortunately for you) a bit too early for chillis to have mad their way into the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent.
Because chilis came from the Americas, and were therefore dependent on thousands of years of indigenous cultivation, followed by European traders who spread them to Asia and the rest of the world.
Ouch... I'm so sorry! Chili's are the one thing I would have a helluva time giving up! I damn near DRINK Frank's Red hot! Especially on my scrambled eggs.
i have 0 heat tolerance so im in the exact same boat. love spices, cant handle peppers :c
It is recorded that what we refer to as Indian food today was heavily peppered prior to the arrival of chillies.
Different type of heat, but apparently, that's what it was.
I first had sambusas at this Omani restaurant along with "faasa" a hearty lamb stew. I miss that restaurant, those guys could cook so well.
I miss the Riesh. There was a grill on the beach by the fish suq.
So hard to find an Oman restaurant. They don’t have a big diaspora in the State or Europe, so their foods are just not well-known in the western world. Quiet different from the Lebanese variation that is popular.
@@ongkhuongduy3498 Yea they didn't have that restaurant very long but I went as much as I could.
Wow. I wish there were an Omani restaurant where I live...i'd totally be there regularly
I'm an Indian and I find the historical information in this video very fascinating.
I love Samosas. I’ve only had potato filled but they are so tasty. I really love the various dipping sauces served with them.
Same. My mom used to get some from the local walmart everyday after a big soccer game lol
Potatos are the best. Meat fillings usually don't have the same feeling for me.
Max, I live on a ranch in Southern Saskatchewan. It is -30c here today. For fun I thought I would make a batch. My cowboys loved them! Thank you for your channel. So fun.
A bunch of powder sniffing neanderthals
I remember samosas from my childhood growing up in Uganda, Africa. My mom got recipes from a local cookbook. I will have to ask if she still has her recipe because I want to try it. But until then I'll be trying this.
My wife had them growing up in Tanzania. They called them sambusa
@@toddellner5283 I remember a truck stop (I think it was a truck stop? Or maybe it was a little restaurant near a truck stop. I don’t really remember) in Kenya that sold really good samosas pretty near the Tanzanian border. I was surprised cause I’d had a lot of indian samosas before but I didn’t know they were popular in East Africa. They were a little on the small side and crispier if I remember correctly.
Although I’ve only ever had samosas in Indian restaurants that weren’t in India… so my perception of what an Indian samosa is like is probably totally wrong/they’re probably all different sizes and breadiness/crispiness levels…
@@MotorcycleWrites The culinary contributions of overseas Indians are huge and underappreciated.
I'm from Uganda and we call them sumbusas out here too.
Try making those with a thinner crust.
Fun fact: sumbusa is also innuendo for vajina out here too.😅😅😅
@@markbyarugaba9037 Huh. Where she grew up another term for that was "kahshata" - the coconut candy
Just made the filling for lunch today. My family are doing keto so sadly we couldn’t have it wrapped in pastry but we had it as the stuffing in a large zucchini/marrow and it was awesome! We topped it with a bit of grated cheese. 10/10 would highly recommend!
Oh my that sounds delicious! I’m going to mention it to my friend who can’t eat wheat .
@@BC25citizen you can also eat it on jacket potatoes. Also very yummy
Before Mughlai cuisine happened to India, most of the native cuisine was of "Satvik" (detoxifying vegetarian) nature. It mainly consisted of various types of leafy veggies, squashes, pulses, lentils and local spices (tomato, potato, chilis, cauliflower were not available). It was lighter on the palate and digestion and was not the type of food a brutal invader would want to feed on.
With the advent of Mughlai cuisine the glamour or "Rajasik" food was introduced that had Turkish & Persian influence and used the local spices.
The long rule of Mughal empire shaped the entire Indian cuisine over the years and made its impact on native vegetarian dishes as well.
That's really not true. Most of the people ate a lot of non vegetarian food, even before the Mughals.
Samosa/samboosa/sanbusa are still quite popular all around the Indian Ocean.
True cos it's like the most traditional snack and available everywhere in East Africa
Very popular in USA
We still have this in Iran as well, we call it Samboose, and it has the same filling. We also have Qotab, but now Qotab is the name of a similarly shaped pastry with a sweet filling.
Max, I sure do appreciate the hard work you put into these videos! I admire that you have turned this channel into something great, pretty much from day one!
Jose does your closed captioning, right? Bonus points today for "crunch, crunch" when you tried your samosa. 😁
In my late teens through to mid 20s I pretty much lived off of Samosas, and beer. In fact I used to sing a song that went "samosas and beer, samosas and beer, all I really need is samosas and beer". When being a totally broke young punk, something that cost less than a dollar (at the time) was fresh, tasted good, and would fill you up it was a no brainer.
Bro, you seem to live a pretty fun life
This is one of my favourite episodes from Max. It's so well crafted and the history is so interesting.
Thanks for bringing together my love for food culture and history through this platform. Kudos to you for deatiled research and bringing to life ancient recipes. This was a wonderful episode
That was a very interesting video. Thanks again for this. Something you said at the end did catch my attention. As an Indian, I have always wondered what Indian cuisine was like, before the discovery of America. Potatoes, tomatoes and chillies especially, are integral to modern Indian cuisine. Wonder if you have any insights on that? A historical video on early Indian cuisine would be lovely!
Sweet potatoes and yams native to the India were used in place of potatoes and they are tastier.
Souring agents like tamarind and kokum fruit (Shorea Robusta, essential ingredient of the Konkan cuisine) were used in place of tomato usually in southern India.
Black pepper was used in place of chillies. Stalks of a native plant called choy(or chui) were chopped up and used to spice food with. It is native to Bengal, Odisha, Bangladesh and the North eastern states.
Four (Indian) + Potato (Indian) = Samosa (Mughal), Thank you Babar for teaching Indians how to cook flour or Potato, else we have been eating raw flesh of animals. Make more such vids, rice (Indian) + Spices (Indian) = Biryani (Babar) , thank you Babar for teaching us how to cook rice. Thank you for such informative history, it should be in books. Many Indians have commented they are licking something after seeing this video.. Thank you.
@@soumiksaha8484 Wow. Thanks for the insight. Would you have a source for this? I would love to read further
@@royrohit84 See there is no source for this.
All this is due to a practical experience of life and maintaining a touch with the soil of the countryside occasionally.
I have seen people do this.
It's fascinating to me on how many cultures from the past had their own versions of hot pockets. I make empanadas all the time, the Mexican version. Granted the fillings and shapes might be different, but these sort of recipes have been around for centuries... thank you for sharing this one.
the pre-industrial rule of food: If it was portable, preservable, AND palatable, it was a guaranteed hit with working classes.
One nearly universal human experience is some variety of dumpling
My Colleagues and I were just talking about this other day the we all have version of the hot pocket (boiled, steamed, fried, etc.). Where I am from Polish pierogis and Cornish Pastys common recipes passed down.
@@mzdrizzle Or a fried dough recipe since basically every culture has one as well.
Im pretty sure literally every culture in history had some form of spiced meat wrapped in dough, it just makes so much sense to do that it is inevitable.
I am just grateful to you. How interesting and informative your description is!
i dont know if anyone would even see this comment.... but the reason it was difficult for you to fold the dough and get it the right triangular shape was because you applied the water on the wrong side. apply the water on the straight side you just cut not around the crumbly perimeter of the semicircular dough. then gently fold the straight side over each other
My grandma just smears a thin layer of filling on the lavash, folds it and fries it. I didn't think it was so complicated originally, lol.
You said samosas and I'm in love. How's an episode on soan papdi sound? Might be a bit complicated though, haha.
Making Soan Papdi is a very thought work, you need to pull the Molten sugar , it will burn your hand when hot, and will crush your muscles as it will cool down.
@@basantprasadsgarden8365 Yeah, the process of making it is very laborious, so buying it might be a justified reason. As long as he eats it. Afterall, it is called Tasting History 😉
@@TheVeryAngryShrimp yeah!
What a name.
Automatic thumbs up when I saw the sword in the stone clip. You combine your humor with culture so well. Unmatched!
Love your charisma and all the history you give us, its very well done and researched. Great job
Babur roasting HIndustan, oh my gosh!! "No good dogs." 🤣🤣Absolutely brutal!!
I’m literally watching this while eating Samosas with tamarind sauce. When I lived in India the samosas in Northern India & the Punjab were crazy spicy. Not even close to the spiciest I have found in Indian restaurants here in the USA. My husband, who is my Indian souvenir 😉, can make them super spicy.
Oh just noticed the Sharma 😂🙏
As a Punjabi, spicy is the correct way 😜
@@suryakantsingh1863 HanJi, mai America se hun, lekin meri dil bharati hai. ♥️♥️♥️
Mera pati Hindustani hai, na ? Mera parivar Delhi Me Hai. 🥰
@@melissasharma3662 welcome to the family 😃🙏
@@suryakantsingh1863 Awe, that’s sweet. ♥️
Your knowledge, pronunciation and presentation of history is so good!!
4:39 _"Muslim traders took them to places all over Asia and Northern Africa"_
Samosas are eaten all over the Muslim Word but in Africa's context even more so the Horn of Africa and the Swahili Coast, which are Eastern Africa. These two regions were part of entirely different trade routes. Northern Africa was mainly connected to the land trade routes of Asia, while Eastern Africa was mainly connected to the maritime Indo-Pacific trade route. It's through the maritime trade route that Samosas were brought from Central Asia and South Asia to the Southern Arabia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Africa regions.
Samoosas are common in South Africa as we have a large Indian population. The fillings vary from chicken, beef, lamb, potato and corn & cheese. They are shaped into triangles and fried. One of my favourite snacks.
We make meat, fish, egg, saag, paneer, sweet (kheer, coconut, fruits etc) & savoury samosas still. The most common one is of course made with the filling of potato, cauliflower, peas with spices. There is even a movie song about it 🤣. The hero says to his heroine that as long as there will be potatoes in samosas you my beloved will be mine. This is the cheapest samosa and most available. We serve it with green or red chutneys.
That sounds like such a cute movie. 😂 I had the potato samosas recently and they were amazing 🤤
It's a movie song? I always thought it was "jabtak rahega samose mai aaloo, tabtak bihar mai rahega lalu" lmao.
I’d stock up on homemade samosas at the Indian food stalls at our farmers market. And tzatziki sauce
Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines! Definitely going to try this recipe.
Pathia and Dhansak are also Persian curries that you would find on most Indian menus :) I would recommend both of these dishes if anyone would like to be more adventurous with their pallet. If you don’t like spice, but can handle medium heat id advise you’d go for the Dhansak as it is light and is made with lentils. However, if you like hotter dishes but still want something tasty then a pathia has the perfect sweet and spicy balance. They are both some of my favourite dishes. I was lucky to travel around India when I was a teenager and have been eating at Indian restaurants in the UK ever since I was a baby :)
Dhansak and Pathia came to India with the Parsi(Zoroastrian) immigrant who fled the invasion of Iran by the Arabs. These dish developed in India only.
I got to try some Uzbek samsas with lamb filling just last week. They were phenomenal! It seems like they used puff pastry, which worked really well.
I think this is the original recipe of a Sicilian meat pie called "impanate", yes, identical to the Spanish and Latin American "empanadas", after all the Spanish were in charge in Sicily for quite a long time. And perhaps the Spanish took it from the Arabs living Spain? That would be interesting to trace!
It's very difficult to trace, because things stuffed inside baked or fried dough is common in almost all national cuisines. Because of the name, it seems the Sicilian one comes from the Spanish and in Spain, the empanada is believed to come from the north west region of Galicia (there is representation of a Galician empanada in one of the sculptures the famous Santiago de Compostela Cathedral Port of Glory, which was done in the 12th century). By the 15th we know they were common enough to appear in cook books, for example we have sea food empanada recipe in Catalán (the Crown of Aragon was the one who inherited Sicily and Catalán was more prevalent there). As for possible Arab influence, maybe, but again, the method is almost universal, not so different from English meat pies and Spanish empenhadas at least do not use a lot of spices more associated with Middle eastern or North African cuisine (most use at most garlic and onion, and cumin, and sometimes sweet paprika)
Before the Spanish held Sicily, both Sicily and Iberia were Muslim states. Sicily fell to Catholic rule in 1091 while Andalus slowly fell to Catholic rule by 1492.
Paella is inspired by Biryani
@@astranix0198 Probably not, though they have common ancestors in Persian and Arab ways to prepare rice. Paella developed from rices prepared by the Morisco population in Valencia and after their house expulsion, by the poor farmers in the Albufera region using the meats, vegetables and spices available in the region, which meant that sometimes it contained water rat.
@@astranix0198 Definitely not. You may be talking about pulav.
Biryani is relatively modern.
1:25 Interesting how they used to call it “sanbusah”. In Arabic a very similar dish is still called the same.
Very interesting to learn about the background of such a common dish in South Asia. Thanks to Babur’s longing for home, a delicious cuisine was born. This was so interesting. Thank you!
i completely forgot you were cooking. Max is a good history teacher.
Right? I knew little of the history of this area. Now I want to travel there
That's interesting about the salt. My first reaction was, he was a heavy smoker, since dokha tobacco already existed in Iran. Then I realized that some brands of salt here in Turkey have very little saltiness, and we sometimes have had to double the amounts in order to match Himalayan or sea salt.
You guys have sweet salts?
This was a superb episode in my opinion. Sort of like when you go to a favored restaurant and your order a dish you like, and it all tastes how it is supposed to be. A well-made version of Tasting History 👌
I'm not indian but love indian food. It's amazing what they can do with just veggies.
and loads of oil, spices, ghee very healthy you will live upto the ripe of gout ridden and diabetic age of 55
@@crybabylebongohmm ghee 🤤
I had Sambusas growing up near Dhahran. The ones we got were made at a Lebaese restraurant in Al-Khobar, andthey had pine nuts added to the filling. I still miss those. That place was a favorite, and we did take out, as well as dining in as often as we could.They also had the best tabbouleh.
pine nuts are an expensive addition, wow. how much did it cost to get one of those sambusas?
What you're describing sounds similar to kibbeh , because it usually filled with pine nuts. They both are similar but kibbeh is made with bulgur instead of dough
I love that you show us the attempted tries before you get it right. Thanks
Love the channel. There are quite a few historical books for ancient Persian recipes, love to see some Persian stuff as well.
Loved the concept behind these video. I'm glad to have discovered this channel 😇
I love the fruit obsession if for no other reason that it reminds me of my mom (she went to Jamaica years ago with some friends and she mostly talks about the fruit. This trip was over 20 years ago, still, FRUIT).
The way they make Qutab in Azerbaijan is different. The filling is the same except for the onions, and we smear it over Lavash and fold it, fry it. Beef, Lamb and Camel is used but there are also multiple plant based variants with various greens and even squash with pomegranate.
What does camel taste like compared to lamb?
@@mzdrizzle it is like much more fatty
Two other things Babur brought to India from Uzbekistan- pomegranate and roses. Cheers to shared culture!
Indian Samosa is mostly made out of peas and potatoes.
@@sabyasachibandyopadhyay8558you forgot the anarkali type dresses. Dances similar to kathak.
Dang Max I remember when you had 700 subs lol. I'm proud of you buddy!!
Thank you, Josh!
I’m sick today and watching all of your videos is really helping to pass the time as I lie here. Thanks for that!
I’m sick too. Feel better soon.
@@TastingHistory Aw, I hope you feel better soon too!
So happy to see you cover Mughlai food & this meaty samosa is even today in India commonly referred to as the Delhi Samosa after the City which was the Seat of Power of the Mughal Empire. Would love to see an episode on the evolution of the Biryani as there are so many styles & countries it graces & like the Samosa the original is Persian.
The Delhi Sultanate was another Turko-Iranic empire predating the Mughal Empire, which the Mughals conquered. Most of these dishes came to India under them and other Muslim states before the Mughals, though more dishes continued to be developed under their rule as well.
I thought biryani was invented in India by a mughal cook putting everything in a pot cooking quickly to feed the mughal army on a march.
Flour (Indian) + Potato (Indian) = Samosa (Mughal), Thank you Babar for teaching Indians how to cook flour or Potato, else we have been eating raw flesh of animals. Make more such vids, Rice (Indian) + Spices (Indian) = Biryani (Babar) , thank you Babar for teaching us how to cook rice. Thank you for such informative history, it should be in books. Many Indians have commented they are licking something after seeing this video.. Thank you.
@@commentplease8074 Fyi Potato was brought to India from the Americas by the Portuguese much later. The original stuffing of Samosa was always minced meat.
@@anniemody Babur Died in 1530; however, according to Dr. Google, potatoes came to India in the 17th century. So, Babur brought Potatoes (Samosas) to India before Potatoes came to India. Therefore, According to Dr. Google Indians started eating Potatoes before European shed their inhibitions about potatoes (see the Wikipedia), although it is only they who brought potatoes to India ( according to Dr. Google ????????). India has 100s of potato based cuisines, Europe has only one: French Fries (although France banned potatoes from 1748 to 1772), even then Potatoes came from West. I remember, many years back a special session was held in Indian Parliament to celebrate 50th anniversary of Indian Independence, in which a famous leader told unopposed that potatoes went from India to Europe (he pushed for prevention of India loosing biodiversity rights of turmeric: (lacks source)). West keeps cornering biodiversity rights of Turmeric, Basmati, Neem Cases. But this samosa story seems to from "Iftaar Party" menu makers, to seek vengeance eating.
Would love to see you do a vid centered on Sumac. By the way, where did you find your mushroom print towels? Love them!
They were a housewarming gift, but I think they were from a French import store in LA called M. Marcel.
Sumac species also exist in North American, North African and across Asian cuisines and so it has quite a diverse history across the world. In the Northeastern and Midwestern US and in Eastern Canada sumac is used to make tea (it tastes like pink lemonade) and for flavouring foods.
@@TastingHistory Thanks for the info. :)
@@hoathanatos6179 there is also an abundance of sumac grown in the sabina (an area of roman countryside) bought there by monks!
Quick correction Max, I believe it's the city of Andijon, or Andijaan based on the local pronunciation. I have a friend from Uzbekistan that talks about those locales all the time.
Love your demeanor when making these videos Max.
An episode on Argentina and Eva Perón would be really cool if you are looking for future video ideas 🇦🇷
Is it true that in Argentina they flavor their salt with Beef .. 😃
@@jonjohns8145 and swords
I don't know about the west coast, but here in the east, Staghorn Sumac grows wild everywhere. I've collected it to make Sumac "lemonade".
Are you willing to share your recipe for Sumac "lemonade"? Sounds interesting!!
@@karengerber8390 It's not much of a recipe. You just need to steep the berries in water, strain through a paper towel or something and sweeten to taste. It's really good. Just make sure you get the RED berries that protrude upward from the plant (staghorn sumac). There are sumacs that are poisonous, but those have droopy white berries. I think it's pretty easy to tell the difference.
at least where I am.
Thank you for teaching.
Do you know, is it safe to dry the red berries for later use?
I find this fascinating.
if you want it as a spice, I suppose you could crush the berries and pass it through a sieve to separate the chaff.
This is such a good/informative channel
I love history and I love food, so your channel is perfect for me! I can’t get enough of your videos! I watch, or now rewatch, them literally everyday. You do such a great job! The work and research you put into them is very impressive, and your sense of humor matches perfectly. I’m a huge fan, and I’m buying the cookbook for my birthday :) I’m trying to get my grandma and aunt and mom into your show too, I think they’d really enjoy it. Thanks for the hours of enjoyment :)
The history segment of this one was so well done I forgot I was watching a cooking show.
And _vice versa_
4:39 _"Muslim traders took them to places all over Asia and Northern Africa"_
Samosas are eaten all over the Muslim Word but in Africa's context even more so the Horn of Africa and the Swahili Coast, which are Eastern Africa.
These two regions were part of entirely different trade routes. Northern Africa was mainly connected to the land trade routes of Asia, while Eastern Africa was mainly connected to the maritime Indo-Pacific trade route.
It's through the maritime trade route that Samosas were brought from Central Asia and South Asia to the Southern Arabia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Africa regions.
Yay! Finally a mughal recipe! Could u do a recipe from the state of Goa. It has really cool food history and is the only indian region that was not under British rule but Portuguese rule. It also happens to be my home state!
I love Goan food! And it has such an interesting history. I visited there a while back and heard about but couldn't find the local version of Chorizo that sounded incredible! My absolute favourite thing to eat there was fish thali. So good!
Which are the best dish of Goa vegetarian and non vegetarian?
Max I don't know if you'll ever see this, but I would really love to see more African recipes, particularly ones from southern Africa; countries like Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola. We typically get left out of these sorts of conversations - even if African countries are included, it tends to be Either South Africa or north African countries like Nigeria and Ghana or Egypt. I'm from Malawi and I'd love to see something from closer to home.❤
Adore both - your videos and indian food! What a great plan for Sunday dinner 🙋🏻♀️
You’re still my favorite. Waiting impatiently for that cookbook.
Just finished the last recipe yesterday!
Is the type of salt he uses ever specified? My first thought is the salt used may not have been the pure salt of today, but maybe something less saline, like Korean bamboo salt or something.
Yep, other commenters have mentioned it was cut with rice husk to help dry it.
Himalayan salt might work
Himalayan salt/rock salt was most likely what was being used there
Love the history lesson on this video, subscribed
Please do more Mughal dishes. I love Mughal cuisine and architecture. As I see it, Mughals were very sophisticated in their cuisine, which probably results from they being the ruling class. If you read e.g. William Dalrymple, he describes the Mughal emperors as very snooty of the British, which I feel comes largely from their respective eating habits as they mutually observed each other. Every dish today called in India "Mughal" is pretty much the best version of a dish, e.g Mughal Biryani. I only experienced these in our time, so I would like to know how they were come about.
Mughal introduced many non vege dishes but they try to make it mix with the Indian spices ,so biryani was the version of polao as central Asian and Persia was famous for polao but polao was not that spicy so they make it do spicy and turned it to biryani ,
Mughlai cuisine is my favourite of all the indian cuisines
@@rajababy2009 Bro, depending on the exact time period we're talking about, chili peppers would have been new/foreign even to the Indians. Certainly the start of Mughal rule it would have been that way. I think enough time would have passed by the end for people to forget that chili peppers aren't native to India.