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June 05, 2005

Vishy's Useless Factoid of the Day #11: Fried Uzbek tetrahedrons

A sine qua non of Uzbek cuisine is the somsa. It is a flaky pastry filled with minced meat, onions and animal fat. Mmmm... (Who am I kidding? Even if I knew an Uzbek person, I wouldn't eat it because of my dietary habits.)

This delicious word snaked its way into Persian as samosa. Hindi picked it up later as samosā, with a long terminal vowel sound. So next time you're about to sink your teeth into a samosa, make a mental note to learn more about Uzbekistan, because the scrumptious fried tetrahedron you're holding in your hand came from there.

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Posted by Vishy at June 5, 2005 02:04 PM

Comments

... and we can put in a little word for the sambusa, a flatter variant that can be found in Eithioian and Eritrean cuisine.

Posted by: Punya at June 21, 2005 02:31 AM