Veg. Munchurian.

“Veg. Munchurian” … a delicious Chinese side dish that can be prepared with a little bit of thick gravy or on drier side too … the Manchurian balls can be prepared as Veg. or as Non. Veg with addition of either egg, chicken, crab meat, fish, etc. well again here too like fried rice the choice list is long … I have prepared it with vegetables as I had served it with egg fried rice which is one of the best combos … Yummilicious …

** Chinese dishes are something rarely prepared in my home though fried rice is often prepared but then it is usually relished with chicken curry or egg curry. Manchurian with Fried Rice is one of the favorite Indo- chinese food people throng for in almost all restaurants and my hubby loves this combo very much. But then I always felt it tastier when we relished these dishes in restaurants than prepared at home, as I felt it quite tedious and added to it was the case that it was not everybody’s favorite, so it always took a backseat.

** Long back I did share Manchurian prepared with raw jackfruit after which I had made a vow that I would post my original Manchurian recipe I learned to prepare before marriage soon enough. Once again, I forgot all about it only to be reminded lately by hubby to prepare it for our 32nd wedding anniversary. Well that is it, here it is on hubby’s demand who relished it eating sparingly for a good two days. I guess Manchurian is here to stay now and I will have to be prepare it more often and I will also have to adapt to new varieties of the same.

** Here is my simple recipe for “Veg. Munchurian” … My Style ...

** Ingredients :

Cabbage : 2 cups finely chopped.

Gajjar/ Carrots : 2 cups grated.

Wheat flour (Atta) or APF (Maida) : ¼ to ½ cup (approximately)

Corn Flour : 1 tblsp

Red Chilly Powder/ Mirsangi Pitti/ Thikkat : 1 tblsp

Cooking Soda : just a pinch

Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste

Oil/ Tel : 1 tblsp

** Oil for deep frying.

** For the Manchurian Sauce:

Oil/ Tel : 3 tblsp

Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 3 tblsp finely chopped.

Ginger/ Adrak/ Alle’ : 1 tblsp finely chopped.

Onion/ Piyav/ Kanda : 1 large or 2 medium finely chopped.

Green Chilly/ Hari Mirchi/ Tarni Mirsanga : 3-4 finely chopped.

Kashrmiri Red Chilly Powder/ Tikkat/ Mirsange Pitti : 1 tsp

Black Pepper Powder/ mriya pitti/ kali miri pitti: 1 tsp

Tomato Ketchup : 3-4 tblsp

Red Chilly Sauce : 2 tblsp

Soya Sauce : 2 tblsp

Vinegar : 1 tblsp

Corn flour : 2 tsp

Water : 2-3 cups

Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste * I have not added.

Sugar : ¼ tsp (Optional) I have not added.

** For preparing the Manchurian balls : In a wide stainless steel bowl add in the chopped cabbage, grated carrots, corn flour, red chilly powder, salt, cooking soda and mix well. Now add in ¼ cup of the wheat or maida and mix well. The carrot and cabbage release water and enable in binding so please DO NOT ADD ANY WATER.

** If you find the mixture still sticky add in little by little the remaining flour and bind till you get a soft balling consistency of the mixture. Lastly add in the oil to the mixture and mix well. You can straight away prepare the balls to be fried or keep it in fridge for 30 minutes so that the mixture gets a little bit dried out and shaping them into balls become easier.

** Heat plenty of oil in a thick bottomed kadai, when smoking hot lower the heat and wait for a few minutes. Meanwhile prepare even sized balls out of the mixture and keep them ready. Add them gently into the oil and deep fry in batches till all the mixture has been used and done. Remove and keep on an absorbent paper for the excess oil to be drained off.

** Note : Once you gently add in prepared mixture balls for deep frying into hot oil, do not stir it or try mixing it with a spatula, this tends to break the balls and spread into oil creating a mess. Deep frying takes time as it has to be evenly fried at medium to minimum heat, so do not hurry, let them be browned a little bit and then only mix them to evenly crisp them out.

** For preparing the Manchurian Gravy : Heat oil and then add in the finely chopped onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies on high heat just for a minute or two. You can add in a few veggies like carrots or capsicum or spring onions chopped fine too, I have not added as I did not have it. But spring onion does taste great, so include it if available.

** Add in the pepper powder fry together till it turns translucent, hardly takes a few minutes. Now add in the chilly powder and all the three sauces and mix well. Add in 2-3 cups of water, mix well and bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring often. Check the salt and add only if necessary. I have not added sugar or salt, but if you like to add it now and mix well.

** Note : Please be careful with addition of SALT as the sauces used for the gravy already are loaded with excess amount of salt. If you must then just before serving check out a little bit and then add. Truly I find it not necessary at all, in fact the dish turns slightly saltier to my taste as in my home we add very little bit of salt to all dishes. 

** Check the consistency, if you find it too thick, you can add some water. Now add in the prepared and kept fried veggie balls/ Manchurians and mix well, let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Mix corn flour in a bowl with about ¼ cup water. See to it that there are no lumps. Do NOT use hot water, you should always use normal room temperature water for mixing corn flour.

** Add corn flour mixture to the simmering Manchurian curry and keep mixing well. As you keep stirring the curry will begin to thicken and will give a glaze to the dish. Lastly add in the vinegar and mix well. Cook just for 2 minutes and remove from fire. Cover and keep it aside for the manchurian to soak in well and blend well with the curry and turn soft.

** Note : You can garnish with a tsp of finely chopped coriander leaves/ dhania/ kottambari pallo if desired. Though Chinese dishes do not include them, but we Indians have a habit of garnishing everything with it and it tastes good too. My friends always tease and joke about it saying I prepare amchi konkani chinese food in my home, Choice is yours. 

** “Veg. Munchurian” is done and ready to be served.  You can serve it slightly thicker or with a little bit of gravy depending on your liking, so adjust the gravy consistency accordingly before serving. For best taste always, serve Manchurian piping hot with veg. or non. Veg fried rice/ any spiced pulav, naan/ roti/ parathas or any other side dish of your choice.

** I prepared the hit combo or Manchurian with fried rice after a very long time as I mentioned above on hubby’s demand as he loves this very much. I am truly glad that I started cooking back Chinese dishes once again after a hiatus and hopefully I will be blogging them more often. Soon to follow will be spring rolls another snack on demand from hubby.

** Somehow with age and over the years I have begun to turn more toward our traditional Konkani Saraswat dishes which was not so 2 decades back. Those days biryani, pulav, chicken curries ruled more in my kitchen and I think it’s high time I started preparing and sharing them once again with all of you. Stay Safe, Stay Blessed and do give a feedback.

** Best paired with any fried rice be it Veg. or Non.Veg. there are a few included in the blog which you can check out and try it, they are all very tasty ... sharing common link below ...

https://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/search?q=egg+fried+rice