Vegetable Manchurian

The mention of manchurian always brings a smile to my husband's face and it makes me very happy too. If it weren't deep-fried, we'd definitely be making & eating it more often... :) I've already blogged about the much-loved Gobi Manchurian and this has a similar sauce base but instead of cauliflower this has fried vegetable balls that consist of minced cabbage, carrot, beans etc. Since I use the mixie to pulse the veggies this comes together in no time and so is great to make for a crowd or parties. You can also make a dry version of this to use as an appetizer and follow the method as given in this recipe after making the fried manchurian balls.


VEGGIE MANCHURIAN


Ingredients:
For the Manchurian Balls:
Cabbage - about 2 cups, minced (I use the mixe & pulse after cutting them into big chunks so it results in a coarse texture, ensure it's not pastey)
Carrot - 2 big, minced (same method as above)
Green Beans - 12 or Cauliflower - 1 cup florets, minced (same method as above)
Spring Onions - 2 to 3 stalks, white and green parts, chopped
Ginger - 1 inch piece, minced
Garlic - 3 cloves, minced
Green Chillies - 4 (mince the Ginger, garlic & Green chillies in the mixie or using a mortar & pestle)
Cornflour - 4 tbsp
All purpose flour - 2 tbsp (adjust based on consistency)
Chilli powder - 1 tsp (or to taste)
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - to deep fry

For the Sauce:
Onion - quarter, chopped finely
Spring Onions - 3 or 4, chopped finely. Reserve some of the green parts for garnish
Ginger - half inch piece, minced
Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves, minced
Green Chillies - 2, minced
Red and/or Green bell peppers (capsicum) - half cup, chopped finely
Soy sauce - about 1 tbsp
Chilli sauce - 1 to 2 tsp (I use Sriracha)
Tomato Ketchup - 1 tsp
Cornflour - 1 tbsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water - about 2 cups
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
1) For the manchurian balls, combine all the ingredients (except the oil for deep frying) in a bowl. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame (ensure it's not too hot or the insides won't cook). Make balls of the dough with your hand and deep fry them in oil till crisp & golden on the outside. Make sure the mixture is not watery and adjust cornflour & all purpose flour accordingly. Drain the fried veggie balls on a paper towel and keep aside.

2) For the manchurian sauce, heat a tbsp of oil in a deep pan and add the chopped onions, spring onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies and fry till they wilt a little bit. Then add the chopped bell peppers with a bit of salt (be careful since the sauces we will add later are salty too) till they are tender crisp.

3) Add the soy & chilli sauces and ketchup at this stage and stir for a minute or two before adding 1.5 cups of water.... Let this come to a boil. Taste and adjust seasonings as required.

4) In the remaining half cup of water, dissolved the corn syrup to a smooth paste and once the sauce starts to boil, stir this in and you will see the sauce thicken almost immediately and turn a bit translucent. Add powdered black pepper at this stage. Once bubbles pop up, the sauce is ready.


5) If you are serving immediately, you can add the fried veggie balls to the sauce and let it cook for a minute or two before removing from the stove. Else, keep the sauce and veggie balls separately until it's time to serve. Reheat the sauce when ready to serve and pour over the veggie balls and garnish with spring onion tops.

We enjoyed our vegetable manchurian with this delicious and easy peppered vegetable rice.