Vegetable Manchurian

Here is a very popular Indo-Chinese accompaniment – Vegetable Manchurian.

Ingredients for Vegetable Manchurian:

Cabbage – 4-5 leaves (Finely chopped)

Carrot – 1 medium size (Grated)

French beans – 4-5 (Finely chopped)

All-purpose flour (Maida) – 1 ½ Tbsp

Corn flour – 1 Tbsp

Onion – 1 medium size (Finely chopped)

Spring onion – 4-5 (Finely chopped)

Garlic – 4-5 (Finely chopped)

Tomato ketchup – 1 ½ Tbsp

Soya sauce – 1 Tbsp

Chilly sauce (Red/Green) – 2 Tbsp

Tasting Salt (Ajinomoto) – 1 Tsp

Chilly powder – 1 Tsp

Oil – 2 Tbsp

Salt – 1 Tsp

Procedure - Vegetable Manchurian:

Veggie Balls Prep:

Take finely chopped/grated veggies in a wide bowl. Add 1 ½ Tbsp all-purpose flour, salt, chilly powder & ajinomoto to the veggies and knead the veggies until all of them are well incorporated. Now add ½ Tbsp corn-flour into the mixture and knead it all together. The moisture from the veggies will make the mixture, dough like. Now prepare small sized balls, by rolling them in your palm.

Put a pan on medium heat, with oil enough to shallow fry. Make sure the oil is medium hot before you fry the balls. Reason being, less heat oil will make the balls absorb more oil, where on the other hand, high heat oil will fry the balls dark brown from outside quickly, not allowing the inside to cook well.  Put one ball into the pan and see if it touches the bottom of the pan and rises to the oil level again. That’s the right temperature to fry the veggie balls. Once done frying them to a golden brown, leave them to rest.

Manchurian Glaze Prep:

Take a shallow pan on low heat. Put 2 Tbsp oil. Put in the chopped garlic & onion pieces and let them sauté for few seconds. Make sure they do not get fully cooked. Let the crunch retain. Now put in the spring onion and give it a good stir. Put in the tomato, soya and chilly sauce and let it cook for few seconds. Meanwhile mix ½ Tbsp corn-flour in 3 Tbsp water. Pour in the corn-flour mix into the veggie-sauce mix. 

Vegetable Manchurian Prep:

 Immediately put in the veggie balls and let them all get coated well with the glaze. This has got to be quick as the corn-flour tends to thicken soon. Once all the veggie balls get well incorporated with the sauce mix, take it off heat and serve hot. Garnish with spring onions.