Calories in Indian snacks: samosa, namkeen and swaps

At 5 pm you feel hungry. You open the tin and there is namkeen. Or you stop at the chai stall for one samosa and two pakoras. These are the snacks most of us grew up with. They taste lovely, they are cheap, and they are everywhere. But they hide a lot of calories, and the calories come mainly from one thing: oil. This article tells you honestly how many calories sit in common Indian snacks like samosa, pakora, namkeen, murukku, biscuits and vada, where the number comes from, and which lighter swaps still fill you up for far fewer calories. The short answer: fried Indian snacks are calorie bombs, even the savoury ones. The good news is there are tasty swaps.