Thursday, October 11, 2012

This and That Thursday - Samosas

This and That Thursday is fun with taste testing similar vegan products. Today we will tackle samosas.

I would love to make my own samosas, but since they are supposed to be a once in a while food and I'm lazy, we usually buy them frozen. They have also become a popular party food at our house.
The face-off is between Deep Foods Potato and Pea Samosas (left three in this picture) and Sukhi's Samosa and Chutney (right three in this picture).

Portion Size:
Probably not a fair comparison since our Deep Foods brand samosas were a 24 piece party pack and the Sukhi's come with ten in a package.

Packaging:
The Deep Foods brand has a bit extra packaging because the box contains more samosas and the extra packaging allows for cooking just a few at a time while keeping the rest fresh.

Preparation:
We bake them both because we don't deep fry. They are both easy to prepare in the oven. Quick cooking times and Sukhi's chutney packet thaws easily.

Physical Appearance:
Sukhi's has the more layered look that I love in a samosa, but they are both appetizing finger foods and similar size. I would say the Sukhi brand browned up a bit better than the Deep Foods samosas.

Nutrition:
Let's be honest, samosas are not about nutrition. They are a side or a decadent snack. That said, how do they compare? Well, I couldn't access the nutrition info for either brand. FAIL.

Taste and Texture:
Sukhi's won hands down on texture. They had the crispy outside with the soft inside of the crust that you can tear off almost like bread. The outside shell definitely reminds me more of homemade (or in our case DC area Indian restaurant quality) samosas. They almost make you forget you are eating a frozen prepackage food. The fillings are similar, but again Sukhi's wins out with a more complex flavor that I love about Indian food, but find it hard to recreate at home. Sukhi's also has the cilantro chutney that I could drink out of a glass so extra points for the chutney.
The kids helped me taste test and they have not eaten as many restaurant samosas. Thus, they were not swayed by hundreds of wonderful visits to our favorite Indian restaurants in Maryland. The kiddos enjoyed them both and asked for more, but the cilantro chutney was the belle of the ball for all three of them. So when pressed they voted, with full mouths and crumbs on their cute little cheeks, for Sukhi's.

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