The Great Samosa Hunt of 2010

At some point last week, several of my roommates and I developed a craving.  I have no idea where this craving came from, or why it hit us all at the same time.  (Power of suggestion, maybe?)  But hit it did, and once it hit, we were all obsessed... so much that now, four days later, I'm blogging about it.

Samosas.  Sadly, they're relatively unknown in the States, but here in Africa, they're one of the few options we have for fast food.  And, by the way, they're amazing.  Think triangular, meat-filled eggrolls.  (Or vegetable-filled... but who in their right mind would choose veg over meat???)  I assume they were originally brought to Africa by Indian immigrants... but now they're an African street food staple.  And we are so glad they are.  Back to the craving...

I think it hit me last Wednesday or Thursday.  Like I said, I have no idea why.  I think it was really just a whim, like, "Oh, while I'm in town, I'll pick up a couple of samosas for lunch."  I mentioned it to Kelli, who jumped right on board.  Only one problem: when I got to the market, there were no samosas.  Anywhere.  Sadly, I returned home empty-handed.  But the seed for a craving had been sown.

Saturday, the longing was still there.  I was walking around the neighborhood and stopped at the little roadside stands... no luck.

On Sunday, Kelli, Jessica, and I went out to a school for the weekly church service and scoured the street vendors all the way through town there and back.  We dropped a couple of students off for a funeral on the way back and kept looking at the little shops in their neighborhood.  Success... sort of.  The samosas were there, but only the nasty, bean-filled kind.  No thank you.  What's the point?  The hunt continues...

Fast forward to Tuesday.  The samosa craving is now in overdrive.  Kelli and I had to run some errands in town, and we were determined to be successful today.  No luck on Main Street- again- but we had a sure-fire, last resort spot.  The coffee shop out at the airstrip outside town has fresh meat samosas every morning.  So we drove the ten minutes out of our way, to find they only had two samosas left.  Bummer.  But two samosas are better than no samosas.  We cleaned out the coffee shop and headed back to town.

But now Kelli had an idea.  Deep in the market, there were women who (sometimes) had the coveted golden pastries.  While I waited in the car, Kelli went to investigate.  Disappointment- beans only.  They told her to try the newspaper office.  Because it makes perfect sense to sell snack foods at a storefront newspaper office.  No luck.  (Shocker!)  The newspaper office staff sent her in the direction of a street full of guest houses and cafes, all of which were empty.  But at the end of the street was a little cafe with a warming box.  And in the warming box was a pretty little pile of samosas.  Meat samosas, to be exact.  Jackpot!

Twenty minutes after she left, Kelli returned with a bag of 13 samosas- plenty for lunch, and then some!

After five days, the Great Samosa Hunt of 2010 was successful... but there was a bonus find.  Asianzu (ah-SEE-ahn-zoo) House, where Kelli found the prized samosas, doesn't just sell snacks.  It's a full-on coffee shop, complete with an espresso machine that actually works!  My friend Katie and I went back there today, and had real, legit lattes that were awesome, for about 50 cents each.  Let's just say there's a new hot spot in Arua!