Monalisa eating samosa

"The samosa offers you the ultimate tongue seduction." The samosa offers you the ultimate tongue seduction. The tantalising taste emanates from the triangular tetrahedral golden-fried pastry, filled with spiced mash potato and vegetables, or ground minced meats. The samosa has been very popular in South Asian cuisine for the last eight centuries. The taste of the samosa transcends class and status. It has been enjoyed in the courts of Sultans and Emperors, as well as in the ‘gullies’ and streets of towns and cities across India and Pakistan. Although we think of the samosa as native to South Asia, it is Central Asian and Middle Eastern in origin. Arab cook books from between the 10th and 13th centuries refer to pastries as ‘sanbusak’, which came from the Persian word, ‘Sanbosag’. It is believed that in Central Asian communities, people would make and eat samosas due to their convenience, especially when travelling. Small mince-filled triangles were easy to make around the campfire during night halts, to be packed into saddlebags as snacks for the next day’s journey. The samosa was introduced to South Asia during the Muslim Delhi Sultanate when cooks from the Middle East and Central Asia came to work for in the kitchens of the Sultan. This was documented by the scholar and court poet, Amir Khusro, who wrote in around 1300 that the princes and nobles enjoyed the ‘samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on’. After its arrival in India, the samosa was adapted as a vegeta...

I wrote, three years ago, about ordering delicious flakey keema samosas in Bengaluru from Anisa’s Kitchen, a catering service run by the eponymous Anisa. I was introduced to Anisa and her delicious food by my friend, Ash Lilani, who has the good fortune to know Rezwan Razack (of the Prestige group), one of Bengaluru’s great gourmets. For strong and podgy samosa lovers, the Punjabi version is the best(Shutterstock) Rezwan often used Anisa’s catering service and he sent me the first batch of keema samosas. After that I ordered them each time I was in Bengaluru and took them everywhere with me. (Mumbai, Delhi, even the beach on an island in the Maldives!) Last week, Ash texted me the sad news. Anisa had passed away. I thought back to the first time I had tried the samosas. When I wrote about them, I had to persuade skeptical North Indians that there were Gujarati samosas. “Gujaratis eat samosas?” was the most common response. “We had no idea.” I had to explain to them that not only did Gujaratis make some of the best samosas in India, we also made exceptional biryanis. This led to more eye-rolling and expressions of surprise. “But Gujaratis are vegetarians,” I was told. The Spanish took the empanada to Central America (Shutterstock) Well yes, most of us are. But some Gujarati Kshatriyas (the old royal families, for instance) do eat meat. And so do many of our minorities. Gujarat contains some of South Asia’s finest trading communities. Apart from the vanyas, there are also gr...

Chef Vikas Khanna also shared an AI-generated picture of the Mona Lisa eating roti. He tweeted, “Finally Mona Lisa is eating a “Doli Ki Roti”. Thanks to AI. This is a traditional bread from Multan (where my Ma’s family is from). Every summer my Nani would make this almost like a BIG feast. Fermented whole-wheat dough, stuffed with spiced lentils & fried to perfection. One of my favorites.” There are historical as well as regular household items such as plates made by the Portuguese in India, a 100-year-old ladle used to dole out food at temples and bowls dating to the Harappan era and an old seed sprinkler. Also showcased are an ancient Kashmiri tea brewer known as 'samovar', vessels from the Konkan, Udupi and Chettinad regions, apart from a large collection of rolling pins, utensils of all shapes and sizes, tea strainers of different types etc.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe Samosas are one of the few Indian fried treats that I just can’t get enough of. They are savory, puff pastry packets of heaven: spicy and sweet, with a great crispy crust surrounding a piping hot filling. When made well, they aren’t too oily and are just fried to perfection. I don’t usually make samosas at home, because honestly if I did, I would eat them all. They’re mainly a treat for me when we go out to Indian restaurants for dinner. The husband is somewhat of a samosa connoisseur – he loves them even more than I do. It’s pretty much guaranteed that if we go to an Indian restaurant that no matter what the other appetizer options are available, he will order samosas every time. This actually works out well for me, because then I can nibble on the crispy pastry crust of more than one samosa without my fellow diners getting annoyed with me 🙂 Because honestly, the crust is SO good. When making samosas at home, I would probably bake them in the oven versus frying them. This recipe below gives you the instructions to fry them if you so choose, but you can also bake them in the oven using these directions from Today’s recipe for samosas comes courtesy of the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, who contacted me with the idea of adding split peas into samosas to amp up the protein & fiber in traditional recipes. I thought it was a great addition to the traditional samosa filling, since it goes really well with the potatoes and other Indian flavors...

There is no denying that the power of artificial intelligence (AI) is dominant at the present moment. Be it to source information in just a few seconds or to play and enhance creativity, everyone is using AI every day for several reasons. Not just artists, even Chef Vikas Khanna brushed up his artistic skills recently and made a beautiful AI-curated image of the world-famous Mona Lisa. Well, it is not exactly like the classic art of Leonardo Da Vinci. Vikas Khanna’s interpretation of Mona Lisa comes with some Indian touches and it is looking absolutely brilliant! Chef Vikas Khanna Used AI To Make This Image Of Mona Lisa With Some Indianness The MasterChef India judge shared this picture on his official Twitter account and we love how he has beautifully added so many Indian elements to the picture. Though Mona Lisa has been painted by an Italian artist, the Indian chef has perfectly added details and intricacies that represent India’s food culture. Ok I did this with AI. Mona Lisa enjoying Indian Food. 😜 — Vikas Khanna (@TheVikasKhanna) Also read: From the beautiful outfit worn by Mona Lisa to the chair with opulent designs to the table filled with a huge food spread, the picture looks simply incredible. Wondering what are the names of the dishes that the chef added to this AI image? Well, we can spot some tea, biryani, a paneer dish, pork sausages, and more. Netizens Are Impressed With The Chef’s Skills We are surely mesmerised by now Vikas Khanna has made this AI image of...