Samosa

A savory pastry made by enclosing a spiced filling in dough and frying or baking it. Common fillings include potatoes and peas, meat, or lentils.

Pastry: A dough-based food made by baking, frying, or otherwise cooking flour and fat. Samosas belong to the broader family of foods made by enclosing or shaping dough.
Sambusak: A filled pastry found in Middle Eastern cuisines, often shaped as a triangle or half-moon. Sambusak is a related pastry that helps trace the samosa’s west Asian culinary relatives.
Punjabi samosa: A large, crisp samosa commonly filled with spiced potatoes and peas. This widely known North Indian style exemplifies the potato-and-pea filling.
Empanada: A stuffed pastry found in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking cuisines, typically baked or fried. Empanadas share the filled-pastry form but belong to distinct culinary traditions.
Potato: An edible starchy tuber used as a staple food and ingredient. Potatoes are the most familiar base for many samosa fillings.
Persian cuisine: The culinary traditions of Iran and historical Persian-speaking regions. Persian foodways helped carry filled pastries eastward toward South Asia.
Keema samosa: A samosa filled with keema, minced meat cooked with spices. Meat-filled samosas show how the pastry accommodates savory fillings beyond vegetables.
Spring roll: A wrapped savory food with fillings enclosed in a thin wrapper, served fresh or cooked. Spring rolls resemble samosas as portable filled snacks but use a different wrapper and shaping tradition.
Pea: A small, round seed from the pea plant, eaten fresh or dried. Peas commonly add sweetness and texture to potato samosa filling.
Delhi Sultanate: A series of Muslim dynasties that ruled much of northern India from 1206 to 1526. Medieval accounts place samosa-like pastries in elite kitchens during the Sultanate era.

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