I have spent most of my life in Chennai. I’m a foodie, and I love samosas. Here in Chennai, and across Tamil Nadu—or even across South India—samosas have a spicy filling. It tastes great, and we have a thing called thalippu (தாளிப்பு) put into it. It consists of ingredients like mustard seeds and dal fried in oil, which are then mixed with the potato masala and stuffed into the samosa. It makes it really flavorful.

I don’t think I’ve eaten many samosas outside Tamil Nadu. Outside the state, I’ve eaten plenty of Pani Puri, dosas, and other local foods, but not many samosas. That’s because the ones I’ve eaten in North India suck.

North Indian samosas do have a potato filling, but they lack spice. They aren’t flavorful. It just feels like boiled potatoes stuffed inside a crispy fried wheat crust. That’s it. These samosas only come to life when you pair them with North Indian chutneys. One is green and made with mint and coriander, I think. The other is red and made with a lot of sugar. In North India, they break up the samosas, add these two chutneys, and serve it to you. That’s what adds the flavor. By default, there is no flavor in their samosas.

The first samosas I remember eating were from Grand Sweets and Snacks (Gandhinagar, Adyar). They are still some of the best I’ve ever had. Whenever I go to Gandhinagar, I buy samosas from there. The taste is almost exactly the same, although the size has reduced. It was a pleasure eating them, and whenever we visited Grand Sweets and Snacks, we used to get free prasadam in donnais (leaf bowls) too.

Very few samosa outlets today match those of Grand Sweets and Snacks. In fact, I should say “almost none” because frankly, I haven’t tasted anything better since.

Similarly, South Indian cooking is spicy, so naturally, the samosa masala is spicy too. You don’t need any accompaniments to eat it; it has a naturally spicy and flavorful stuffing.

I don’t think samosas should just be there to complement other flavors. For example, take the chana samosa, (its a North Indian dish) where you break up the samosa and put it in chana masala. In that case, the samosa and potato are only there to absorb the flavor and add texture.

For a South Indian like me, a samosa should have “all batteries included.” It is not a dish that merely accompanies other dishes; it is a dish in itself. A king on its own. It should have an empire of flavors. Hence, to me, North Indian samosas suck.