Muslim charity volunteers break record for world's largest samosa

Volunteers from Muslim Aid in the UK have beat the Guinness World Record for the biggest samosa, all in the name of charity.

Muslim Aid volunteers attempt to cook the world's largest samosa at the East London Mosque in London on August 22, 2017. Source: Ben STANSAL/AFP/Getty Images

A charity in the United Kingdom has beaten the Guinness World Record for the world's biggest samosa - with one weighing more than 150 kilograms.

A dozen volunteers from Muslim Aid got together in East London mosque to prepare the enormous snack, which was deep-fried in a custom-built vat. 

The samosa was prepared on a large wire mesh, then winched into the custom-made deep-frying vat before being brought back out to be weighed. The process took 15 hours.

The samosa weight 153.1 kilograms, beating the previous record of 110.8 kilograms, set by Bradford College in northern England.

Event organiser Farid Islam told AFP that the process was more difficult than he'd realised - especially when the enormous dish had to be weighed by a Guinness World Record official.

"My heart was beating really fast," he says. "It was very tense. It looked like it was going to slide off. A crack appeared and I feared the worst."

"Initially I thought [the process] would be a piece of cake: stuff it together, tie up the end and fry it,"  Islam says.

"When I realised there was not a single pot in the country that could hold that weight, we had to get something tailor made."

Islam told Guinness World Records that they chose the samosa because it's something anyone could make, saying, "There so many crazy records but this is something we can achieve with our volunteers. We're bringing in an expert to support us, but this is something we can achieve with our volunteers. It's not an expertise dish."

Muslim Aid staff work as they attempt to cook the world's largest samosa at the East London Mosque in London. Source: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images. Source: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

According to GWR adjudicator, Pravin Patel, the rules for beating the world record were:

• be triangular
• contain flour, potatoes, onions and peas
• be fried
• retain the shape when cooked
• has to look and feel like a samosa
• be edible by humans.

Patel told AFP, "The critical record is the net weight. Plus it all has to be eaten. No wastage!"

The samosa was divided into hundreds of portions, and served to local homeless people by the Salvation Army.

"It's an absolutely great achievement,"  Patel says.