Internet in hysterics as Coles refers to its Samosas as 'Indian Style Triangles'
- Replies 3
The social media world has gone into overdrive after a Reddit user posted a picture of a packet of Coles "Indian Style Triangles" - with many users labelling the move as "culturally insensitive" or "cultural appropriation".
The internet was divided on whether referring to Samosas as ‘Indian Curry Triangles’ was culturally insensitive or not. Credit: Subtle Curry Traits/Facebook.
The image, which was posted to the Australia subreddit, shows a packet of the samosas with the words "Indian Style Triangles" printed on the front.
While some users seemed genuinely offended, others saw the humour in the situation.
"Only if it’s from the samosa region. Otherwise it’s just sparkling triangles", said one user, making a reference to sparkling wine only being allowed to be called 'Champagne' if it comes from that particular region in France.
Others took the opportunity to come up with new 'politically correct' euphemisms for popular food items, with one user saying "Now I'm craving an Australian style circle with dead horse" (by which we *think* he means a meat pie). Some of our other favourites were:
- Italian circle bread (pizza)
- Middle eastern style cylinders (kebabs)
- Australian style choc square covered in coconut sprinkles (lamingtons)
- Mexican semi-circles (tacos)
A few commenters thought staying away from the 'samosa' name was warranted, but clearly not for the same reason Coles did: "No, they're Indian style triangles. It's more respectful to real samosas than this mass produced watered down crap.", said one. "Samosas are food, these are triangles. Calling them samosas would be false advertising", echoed another. "I guess their thinking is that a triangle has no flavour and that matches the product perfectly", piled on a third.
Many raised their eyebrows over the apparent “cultural appropriation” of the label. Credit: The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack.
Ironically it turns out that the name Coles chose for the product may have been more apt than most people realised. "An Indian employee used to regularly bring in various flavoured Samosas for everyone. One day I asked him what they are called in English, and he simply replied, 'triangles'. So seems fair to me", said one user, with another replying "Yep. Samosa literally means 'pastry triangle."
Well members, what do you reckon? A lot of fuss about nothing, we think, but there are some very funny comments to be found in the original Reddit thread.
While we’re on the topic of samosas, we feel we’d be remiss if we didn’t include a recipe for making them at home. We can almost guarantee they’ll be far superior to ‘Indian Style Triangles’ too!
Ingredients:
250 grams of all-purpose flour
100 ml of water
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of salt
Filling:
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1/4 cup of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, water, oil, and salt. Stir until the mixture forms a ball. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the potato, onion, and carrot. Add enough water to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
3. Drain the vegetables and transfer to a large bowl. Add the cumin seeds, oil, ginger, garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, and black pepper. Stir until the vegetables are evenly coated with the spices. Add the peas, coriander, and lemon juice. Stir until well combined.
4. To assemble the samosas, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 12-inch-long rope. Cut each rope into 12 equal pieces.
5. Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Using a rolling pin, flatten each ball into a 4-inch-wide circle.
6. Spoon 1/4 cup of the filling onto the centre of each circle. Fold the dough over the filling to form a half-moon shape. Press the edges of the dough together to seal.
7. In a large frying pan, heat 1 inch of oil over medium heat. Add the samosas and cook for about 5 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
8. Serve warm with chutney.
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