‘Prince hotel’: This Kashmiri chaiwala redefines samosa,  serves ‘maaz’ filled snack with tea

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Srinagar:  Remember famous Bollywood number,  jab tak rahega samosa main aloo…

 Now, a Kashmiri chaiwala has redefined samosa. Aloo is out and maaz is in. 

 The tea seller from the old city has become famous fir serving ‘maaz’ (lamb meat) and chicken samosas with tea.

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Photos by KM/Umar Ganie
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Photos by KM/Umar Ganie
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Photos by KM/Umar Ganie

Though samosas are usually vegetarian, Mohammad Ashraf’s chai shop at Nawab Bazaar attracts foodies from all over the Valley for the special non-vegetarian delight.

Ashraf says their tea shop ‘Prince Hotel’ was 60 years old and the ‘maaz’ samosa was introduced by his father.

“We have been running this tea shop for the past 60 years. All tea shops have samosas but my father Ali Mohammad Dar thought of introducing something different. He stuffed samosas with lamb meat and gradually our ‘maaz samosa’ and tea became famous. Now, we have several old customers who have moved out of downtown but still frequent our chai shop. Even though we have now shifted to Kralpora now, we have kept this tea shop running,” Ashraf told The Kashmir Monitor.

He said after the Covid lockdown they were only serving chicken samosas but will go back to ‘maaz samosa’ very soon.

“We don’t keep the typical veg samosa at our shop. We have always used pure lamb meat but after Covid there was a lockdown and mutton too had become hard to find especially during last year’s strike of the mutton dealers. Therefore, we were only serving chicken samosas. Now that the Covid related restrictions are easing, we will keep both ‘maaz’ as well as chicken samosas available shortly,” he said.

Showkat Ahmad, a regular customer at the tea shop, said the samosas served at the ‘Prince Hotel’ were different.

“I have been coming here to eat ‘maaz’ samosas for the past 30 years. It is different. If you eat it once, you will get addicted. As a kid, I remember when we used to return home after playing a cricket match, we would stop by to relish this ‘maaz’ samosa. Many people have now shifted out of downtown but they still come to relish this samosa to relive the good old times spent in Shehr-e-Khaas,” he said.

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