Bandh Samosa / Bun Samosa

I had prepared this dish to be a part of the regional snacks for the 'Indian Sweets and Snacks' themed September marathon but held onto it once I saw this month's blogging marathon theme of 'stuffed dishes'. This bun samosa seems to be a signature street food dish of  Kasauli, a hilly town in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. I came across this recipe when my husband was browsing through a YouTube video featuring street food from the region and the snack seemed to be right in our alley. We love samosa chaat and this bun is a part of that chaat wrapped in a toasted bun. What can go wrong with that, right? And so I got some buns and samosas from the store immediately and tried these delicious samosa buns. 

The shopkeeper in the video was selling these jamun buns as well to our surprise. He mentioned in the video that decades ago, a south Indian customer requested him to make that bun after giving him the directions for the recipe. He has been selling jamun buns ever since and the other shoppers have also caught on and now jamun bun has become a hot commodity along with bun samosas. My brother in law's family lived in Kasauli during 80's for a considerable amount of time and so we even wondered for a moment whether my brother in law was that customer by any chance since we haven't heard jamun buns outside of my husband's hometown. 😀

These mess free buns make a lip smacking snack or a mini meal on it's own. If one loves samosa chaat as we do, then this bun is for you. In this bun preparation, samosa, chole and the green and sweet chutneys all go inside a bun and then the bun is toasted using a generous amount of butter. For the uninitiated, samosas are a deep fried pastry with a spicy potato and pea filling while chole is the spicy chickpea curry where as the chutneys are the standard flavor boosters in most of the chaat items, a major portion of the Indian street food. Bun samosa is therefore also called as bundh samosa as the stuffing is encased inside the bun. The word 'bundh / bandh' means closed in Hindi. I used store bought buns, samosa and sweet chutney which makes the preparation relatively quicker and easier than starting from scratch.

Ingredients:
4 burger style buns 
Green chutney as needed
Sweet chutney as needed
4 samosas
About 1 cup chole masala
2 tbsp. butter

* I opened the burger bun for pictures sake but the buns can be cut open only slightly and the samosa and curry can be stuffed as in a pocket. Spread green and sweet chutneys liberally on one side of the bun.

* Slightly mash a samosa and place it over the chutney side.

* Pour over a ladeful (about 1/4 cup or as needed) of chole curry. I made it slightly thicker but the consistency of the curry can be like the regular one.

* Cover it with the other side of the bun.

* Heat a griddle and melt a little butter over it. Place the bun over the griddle and toast until golden brown on both sides. Repeat the stuffing and toasting parts with the remaining buns. Serve them immediately.

This post is an entry for Blogging Marathon #105 under 'Stuffed Dishes - Buns' theme. Check what other marathoners are cooking, clicking at the link.

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