So firstly, what does being an ‘Indori’ even mean? Well, this word is used to address people like me who belong to a quirky little town in central India called INDORE. My lovely, lovely hometown Indore!!
So if you are from Indore, you will be very familiar with the term ‘BAKED SAMOSA’. It’s exactly what it sounds like- a Samosa-like snack, that is baked instead of deep-fried. I am constantly shocked when my non-Indori friends and relatives confess about never having heard of such a thing before.
There is nothing like flavors and aromas to invoke nostalgia of the past. I think of ‘Baked Samosa’ and am instantly transported to my childhood. When we were kids, my sister and I used to beg for a five-rupees note each from Mum and taking our bicycles, would pedal speedily to the nearest Sanchi-Point ( A milk parlor which sold a variety of Sanchi milk products and some snacks) and say to the shop-keeper-
“Bhaiya, ek ‘bana hua’ baked samosa dena!”
‘Bana hua baked Samosa’ in Indore means a flaky Patty containing aromatic potato mixture and stuffed with lots of ketchup, chopped onions and a variety of namkeens. I can still see in my mind’s eye the hot parcel wrapped in the newspaper that the shop-keeper used to hand to us. We’d open it at home and there’d be this amazing smelling giant baked Samosa sitting inside, bursting at seams with a lot of spicy fillings…..Yummm!! I am telling you, cold rainy day and piping hot baked Samosa with tea….You can’t beat this combination with the fanciest meals on this Earth!
I live abroad in Ireland now but my heart is and always will be an INDORI. I inhale Sev. I make Pohe around thrice a week for breakfast. ‘Vijaychaat House’ is my temple. Joshi Dahi-bade wala is my God. I dream about ‘Butte ka kees’ on regular basis.
Coming back to the Baked Samosas, as I don’t get any of those here in Dublin (obviously), I simply decided to make it at home myself. That’s how we Indoris are with our food. We take it very seriously and have to have it any which way!
If you are a fellow foodie living outside of Indore like me, find the easy recipe on my blog- https://afoodiehousewife.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/indori-style-bana-hua-baked-samosa/
As they rightly say-
“You can take an Indori out of Indore….
but you can NEVER take Indore out of an Indori!”
