I keep messing up my samosas!?

Question

My husband is Indian but lets face it, he doesn't know anything about Indian cooking so I am the one trying to learn the recipes. We have tried several times to make samosas from scratch and the batter, outer shell, whatever you want to call it, always ends up chewy. We were told by the Indian lady in the store to use regular all purpose flour.. should I be using something else?

Answer 1

no all purpose flour is ok....

but while kneeding the dough for it follow the following steps:
1. take the flour
2. add a little salt to the flour
3. add about 7-8 spoons of oil to it... kneed in the oil really well into the flour... the flour will not be kneeded tightly but it should be wet with the oil...
4. kneed the flour very tighly with lukewarm warm water.

Then make the samosas as usual. The outer crust would be crisp and not chewy if u deep fry them on low - medium heat. Don't use high heat while frying them.

Best of Luck

Answer 2

The flaky outsides that you get from restaurant samosas are usually from pre-made sheets of dough. If you want flaky outsides from scratch, add butter to the outside so it will get sort of crispy. I know when you use sheets to make flaky foods like baklava, we use a couple of the sheets (they're very thin) and spread butter between each one. It sounds fatty but I think you can avoid the chewy crust like that. Brushing with egg yolk (egg wash) may also help, that gives things a harder glaze outside.

Answer 3

You can get ready made sheets of dough (from asian food shops) that you use to wrap the fillings in that are just as good. They always come out crisp.. The only time they come out soggy is if theyare left in a pot with all the steam.

Answer 4

All purpose is fine. Your dough may be too thick and so the center is gummy or you might be frying it a too low of a temperature. Good luck.

Answer 5

I use the wonton wrapper for my samosas, from chinese stores they are vegetarian if it is one your concerns.