Hi,
We're having samosas as starters before 5 different indian dishes on Tuesday. We're going to try out the recipe here on this site - it looks delightful.
One question, though. Is it possible to make them fairly well in advance, and reheat them and still have them light and crispy as they should be? If so, what's the best way of reheating them? In the oven? Refry? Grill?
Obviously, with a whole string of dishes, it would really suit us to be able to do some of them well in advance.
Thanks in advance
Ian
Ian, mum's away for the weekend and not back till Monday evening... and I don't know the answer myself, sorry!
If you've cooked them I'd go for reheating in the oven... but if you are making them in advance maybe storing them in fridge uncooked and then cooking them on the day might be an option ?
Well we did a run through today, with half quantities, and found them truly delightful, though the forming of the cone is a little tricky. I think we're going to cheat next time and use some "empanadita moulds" where you put a circle of dough into this folding mould, fill it, and just flip it over to get the seal.
We can certainly make the filling tomorrow, I guess, as well as the pastry, and then, depending upon what Mamta suggests, either cook them in advance or simply put them in the fridge as AskCy suggests. I'm a little uneasy about this, as I fear the filling may soften the pastry, though that could happen either way.
Thanks guys for your replies.
ATB
Ian
I amn still in Basel, will return tomorrow. It ias difficulkt to type with a French keyboard .
Samosa can be re-heated,
1 fry them lightly in the first instance and refry quickly before serving.
best are freshlz fried. i always have some in the freezer and fry them before serving.
mamta
Mum, do you freeze after part-frying/ cooking or do you freeze them uncooked?
Hi Mamta,
Thanks very much for that answer from the land of the gnomes.
Hope your flight back turned out well. We've decided to fry them about an hour before we eat them, which will give them chance to cook to being lukewarn. We found we liked them best like that.
Will let you know how they turned out tomorrow evening!
ATB
Ian
Hi,
Just to let you know that we made them tonight, using the patty formers, but Jacquie said she won't do it again like that. Even if the cone method is quite fiddly, she says the patties were worse!
However, the results were spectacularly good. Thanks very much, that's a keeper.
All the best
Ian
Hi Ian
I am glad they came out well. Thank you for the feed back. Jacqui is right, the original pastry does taste best. People make them with rice pastry and I have made them with puff/short crust pastry, cooking them in the oven and they are reasonable. However, the proper way, with cones, is the best.
Mamta
Hi Mamta - Hi Ian!
Was wondering, Mamta, how thin do you roll out your samosa dough? I'm guessing that the diameter specified in your recipe make it the right thin-ness but I haven't tried your dough recipe, so was wondering ... is is supposed to be thin or should it be REALLY thin?
Thanks,
Odette
Hello Odette
The samosa pastry should be just thin, but not paper thin. It is a bit like short crust pastry, gives it's own crunchy taste to the samosa. If you make it papery thin, firstly it may burst during frying and secondly it will not give the samosas the ?crunch? it is supposed to have. I would make the pastry about 2-3 mm. thick. I have added this to the recipe.
Mamta
Last time I was making chapaties and a dry lamb mince curry at the same time I used some left overs to make samosoa's.. worked out really well...(thats left over curry in freshly rolled out chapaties, then shallow fried)
Thanks Mamta. I was wondering, because I've never been able duplicate bought samosas, epecially those with a crispy yet thin yet somehow elastic pastry/dough - well, it doesn't flake or fall apart when you bite into it, is what I mean.
And what a good idea, Cy.
Odette
Dear Odette
If you are talking about thin pastry, you probably mean Gujrati samosas which are made either with same pastry as spring flour/Filo pastry or with very thinly rolled and half cooked chapaties see; http://www.nutrition.org.uk/upload/samosa%20served.jpg
For their chapatti dough, Gujrati people generally add some oil to the flour, like you add buttter to the pastry dough and their chapatties are papery thin. However, North Indian samosas are not made with very thin, paper like pastry, it is more like a short crust pastry. They look like this ;http://manpasand.blogspot.com/2006/09/samosa.html. They are plumper than the Gujrati ones, with more filling and thicker pastry.
Both taste good, I obviously prefer the North Indian ones :-)!
This an interesting site to learn about samosas; http://www.samosa-connection.com/india.htm
Mamta
Hi again,
Just came back to see how the conversation had developed :-).
Thanks very much for the explanation of the differences between gujerati and northern indian pastry as used in Samosas. When I read what you said to Jacquie, she said "aha!!!", as we were in fact expecting something more like the crispy thin type. However, we're very happy indeed with them the way you suggested, and as we find it quite hard to get that kind of pastry, we're appy enough to make yours - with the added bonus of knowing why they're different.
Also just wanted to say that the Safed Murgh Korma, which we got here, worked out at treat. But it's sure complicated.
ATB
Ian
Hello Ian
Glad to be of service :-)
Remind me, which one is Safed Murgh Korma? You are not talking about navratan, are you?
Mamta
Hi Mamta,
I have just learned something new! So thank you for the info and links! I know I have eaten the gujarati type many times, and I have the other type too, only I never knew they were regional variations. In hindsight, that makes a lot of sense - the potato/pea/veggie ones I've had with thick soft pastry must be the Punjabi ones and hot extra spicy crispy ones, Gujarati. I must say I do like them both very much!
Odette
Hi Mamta,
Can you please let me know how do you freeze uncooked samosas? Actually i need to make around 50 samosas in the weekend. so i am planning to make now and freeze it. please let me know how to do that.
thanks,
madhu
Hello Madhu
I put them in airtight plastic containers, like empty ice-cream tubs, and keep them in the freezer. When I need them, I take them out a couple of hours before, to defrost them fully and then deep fry them.
For freezing, it is best to use the chapatti method of making samosas, I have updated the recipes today, take another look.
Mamta
Hey Madhu,
Amazing recipe. I was wondering if I could make traditional samosas by deep frying them, cool them and then freeze them. And then just take them out when I wanted and put them in a preheated oven to heat them and still maintain the crispiness and freshness.
Thank you for your help,
KJ
I've been making my own somosas now for several years and eat them fast enough NOT to warrant freezing them. My problem is : How do you keep them crispy once cooked? Mine always go soft and limp within @ 1hr after frying. The ones I've bought locally - that is to say home made rather than commercially produced are crispy when bought I thought maybe it was to do with the filling still being hot so have used it cold with no improvement.
Any ideas ? or is it just refrying? ( Not applicable at work though I fear)
could it be how you are storing them compared to the ones you buy ?
Steve
Thank you both - Definately not how I store them - have tried most methods to no avail. Will try slower rying though I thought they generally had to be fast fried in v hot oil (sure that's mentioned in a couple of my books0 Thanks again
I disagree Dave, samosa are not fried fast in HOT oil. Always fry slowly, on medium heat.
try overworking the dough when you are kneading it, apparently that makes a crisper end product ! It was mentioned passing on one of the Hairy Biker programes
Steve
hi i made some samosa put them in the freezer but all stuck together could you tell me what went wroung