Vegetable Manchurian

Vegetable manchurian is my favourite indo-chinese dish to enjoy alongwith a bowl of fried rice or hakka noodles. It is not at all complicated to be made at home as it looks. The main part of the dish is the balls which can be made with a variety of finely chopped, grated or minced vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, corn etc. It can be made dry, semi-dry or with gravy, the consistency of the manchurian depends entirely on personal choice. I always prefer to make this with gravy and so sharing the same today.


Preparation time: 20 min.
Cooking time: 20 min.
Cuisine: Indo-chinese
Type: Main-course
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

For Manchurian Balls:

• 1 cup carrots (grated)
• 1 cup cabbage (grated)
• 1 tsp green chilli sauce
• 2 bread slices
• 1 tblsp all-pupose flour (maida)
• 1 tblsp cornflour
• 1 tsp salt

For gravy or sauce:

• 1 tsp ginger (grated)
• 1 tsp garlic (grated)
• 1 tblsp celery stem (chopped)
• 2 green chillies (chopped)
• 1 big spring onion white (chopped)
• 4 tsp soya sauce
• 2 tblsp tomato ketchup
• 3 tsp green chilli sauce
• 2-3 tsp cornflour
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp vinegar
• 2 tblsp spring onion greens (chopped)
• 2 tblsp sesame oil (preferably)

Method:

Manchurian Balls:

1. Squeeze cabbage and carrots to remove any moisture.
2. Make bread crumbs in a mixer grinder.
3. Mix all the ingredients and make lemon sized balls and deep fry till golden brown.

Manchurian Gravy or Sauce:

1. Heat oil in a wok or pan and add ginger and garlic, saute for few seconds.
2. Add celery, green chillies and spring onion whites.
3. After a minute, add chilli sauce, soya sauce and tomato ketchup.
4. Add 1 and a half cup of water and let it boil.
5. Mix cornflour and remaining half cup of water in a seperate bowl.
6. Add the cornflour slurry in the boiling gravy, stirring continuously.
7. Add salt, sugar and vinegar.
8. Finally add the fried manchurian balls.
9. Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot with fried rice or noodles.

Note:

If manchurian balls begin to break or crumble while deep frying add little cornflour to the balls mixture to ensure proper binding.