Vegetable Manchurian (Dry & Gravy)

- Submitted by Dahlia

(Veg Manchurian, Mixed Vegetable Manchurian Gravy, Vegetarian Manchurian Balls)

Manchurian is a popular type of preparation in India introduced by the Chinese chefs. The name manchurian comes from the Manchu Cuisine in China. The traditional Manchu cuisine may be different by the manchurians in the Indian Chinese restaurants have a unique style of preparation.

Manchurian is usually made with all the basic ingredients like onion, ginger, garlic etc. These are combined with Chinese sauces and the result is a winner. Any vegetable or non-veg can be cooked in the basic manchurian sauce. Chicken manchurian and todays vegetable manchurian are the fast moving dishes in restaurants. The other manchurians that can be made are Cauliflower manchurian, Mushroom Manchurian, Paneer Manchurian, Egg Manchurian etc.

Vegetable manchurian can be made in both dry and gravy form, both of which I have shared below. I have also shared some healthy preparation steps below. Kids will love this dish and not know the veggies that go inside.

Recipe for Vegetable Manchurian

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

For Manchurian Balls

• Mixed Vegetables - 2 cups ( I used about 3/4 cup of shredded cabbage, 1/2 cup of carrots, 1/2 cup of green beans, 1/2 cup of green bell peppers and a spring onion. Any other vegetables like cauliflower, mushroom, broccoli etc. may be added too.) 
• Corn flour -  3 tbsp
• All Purpose Flour (or cooked rice or rice flour) - 4 tbsp 
• Salt - to taste
• Crushed Black Pepper - 1/4 tsp

For Manchurian Sauce

• Ginger - 1 tbsp (minced)
• Garlic - 1.5 tbsp (about 4-5 clove minced)
• Green Chili - 1 (minced)
• Spring Onion (white part)  - 1/4 cup  (finely chopped)
• Chili sauce - 1 tbsp
• Tomato sauce (or Ketchup) - 2 tbsp
• Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
• Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
• Black Pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Ajinamoto - 1 tsp
• Spring Onion (Green part) - 3-4 tbsp (for garnish)
• Corn Flour - 1 tbsp (optional - if you need sauce)
• Water - 1/4 cup - 2 cups (depending on sauce needed)

Method

Preparing Dry Manchurian Balls

1. Grate or chop all the vegetables finely. Microwave it for 2 minutes to partially cook it.
2. Squeeze of any liquid that oozes out of the veggies.
3. Take the vegetables in a bowl and mix the corn flour, cooked rice, salt and pepper powder with it.
4. Form small balls and fry them in hot oil until golden brown.
5. Now we need to toss the balls in the sauce to flavor them.
6. First heat oil in a pan and add finely chopped ginger, garlic, green chili and spring onion whites. Saute for a minute.
7. Add the sauces - tomato ketchup, chili sauce, soy sauce along with ajinomoto, salt and black pepper powder. 
8. Add 2 tbsp of water and cook for a minute. 
9. If you prefer dry manchurian balls, toss the fried balls with the sauce at this stage. Garnish with spring onion greens and serve.

Preparing Manchurian Sauce

1. If you want to make vegetable manchurian gravy, mix the corn flour with 1/4 cup of water.
2. Add it along with the sauces. Add some additional water or vegetable stock, salt and pepper powder.
3. Boil it until the gravy thickens and gets a shiny look. At this stage add the fried balls and switch off.
4. Garnish with chopped green onion and serve. In both the cases toss the balls with the sauce just before serving to prevent it from getting soggy.

Detailed Steps to make Vegetable Manchurian

Preparing Dry Manchurian Balls

The first step if to prepare the vegetables. Today I have used cabbage, carrot, capsicum and green beans which are the classic vegetables used in Indo-Chinese cooking. At times I also include other veggies like red cabbage, colorful peppers, celery, mushroom, cauliflower, broccoli etc. depending on what I have on hand.

You need to chop all the vegetables finely or grate it. To make life easier, I used my food processor to finely chop the vegetables.

Remove the vegetables into a bowl. At this stage you may partially cook the veggies or use them raw. I like to microwave the vegetables for 2 minutes before proceeding. 

After microwaving, sometime the vegetables oozes out liquid. Squeeze out this extra moisture from the vegetables and keep it aside. You can add it to the sauce later.

Take the vegetables in a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients - corn flour, cooked rice, salt and pepper powder. Since I had cooked rice on hand, I added. If not, I usually add maida.

Mix everything together together and make small balls out of it.

Fry the balls on medium low heat until golden brown. If the balls are moist it will fall apart. Just add little corn flour or bread crumbs to absorb the excess moisture.

For low fat frying, I use the non stick paniyaaram pan (or a puffed pancake pan) to shallow fry the balls in very little oil as shown in the picture. It will take a little longer to get fried but has a lot less fat.

Remove the balls on to paper towels to absorb the excess oil. In this plate I have both the ones - deep fried in oil and shallow fried using non stick pan. It looks and tastes almost the same.

Next we need to coat it with the sauce. For this heat the sesame oil in a pan, add the finely chopped ginger, garlic, green chili and the white part of the spring onion.

Add the soy sauce, tomato sauce, chili sauce, salt, ajinomoto and pepper powder. Mix everything together. Also add 2-3 tbsp of water (or veg. stock) so that the mixture doesn't get dried up/ 

Carefully add the fried balls to this and toss everything together until the sauce coats every ball. If you plan to serve later, prepare the sauce and balls. Keep aside. Mix them only when they are ready to be served in order to retain the crunchiness of the balls.

Garnish with finely chopped spring onion greens. Serve as a side dish or as an appetizer with some tooth picks. 

If you need a manchurian gravy to be served with white rice or fried rice, follow the steps below.

Preparing Manchurian Sauce

For making vegetable manchurian gravy version, prepare the sauce as above. Just before adding the balls, you need to do a couple of things.

Mix the corn flour with 1/4 cup water and keep it ready. Add it to the above sauce and bring to a boil.

Add little extra ajinomoto, black pepper powder and salt for the additional gravy.  Taste the sauce and adjust if needed.For more gravy add vegetable stock or plain water as needed. 

Boil it for couple of minutes until the sauce thickens.

Add the fried balls just before serving. Garnish with chopped green onions.

Enjoy this manchurian curry with any ino chinese main course.

Serving Vegetable Manchurian

• You can server the veg manchurian balls alone as a snack or appetizer. I like to insert some toothpicks to make it look pretty. 
• Serve the mixed vegetable manchurian gravy with noodles or fried rice or plain white rice.

More Indo Chinese Recipes

Vegetable Fried Rice	Gobhi Manchurian	Chicken Manchow Soup	Wonton Soup
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