Veg Manchurian

This is a delicious veg manchurian recipe with a sauce or gravy from the Indian Chinese cuisine. It is a vegan recipe.

Credit: Dassana Amit

Make it:

for veg balls

·        ½ cup grated carrot

·        ½ cup finely chopped cabbage (purple or green)

·        ¼ cup finely chopped bell pepper (capsicum)

·        ¼ cup finely chopped spring onions (scallions)

·        ½ teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper or black pepper powder or white pepper powder

·        2 tbsps all purpose flour (maida)

·        2 tbsps cornflour (corn starch)

·        ½ teaspoon salt or add as per taste

·        oil as required, for shallow or deep frying - sunflower oil or any neutral tasting oil

for corn starch or cornflour paste

·        1 tbsp cornflour (known as corn starch outside india)

·        2 tbsps water

for manchurian gravy or sauce

·        1 to 1.5 tbsps oil - toasted sesame oil or sunflower oil or any neutral tasting oil

·        4 tbsps finely chopped onions or chopped spring onion whites (scallion whites)

·        1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

·        1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

·        2 green chillies - finely chopped

·        1 tbsp finely chopped celery (optional)

·        ½ tbsp soy sauce

·        1 tbsp tomato ketchup

·        2 to 3 teaspoons red chilli sauce

·        1 teaspoon rice vinegar or regular white vinegar or apple cider vinegar

·        1 to 1.25 cups water or vegetable stock

·        ½ teaspoon black pepper powder or freshly crushed black pepper or white pepper powder

·        salt to taste

·        ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar to taste or add as required

·        1 tbsp spring onion greens (scallion greens) for garnishing

Make it

making veg balls

Take the finely chopped or grated veggies in a bowl. 

Then add the dry ingredients - corn starch, all-purpose flour (maida), black pepper and salt.

Mix and gather the whole mixture together. Then kind of mix and knead so that the veggies leave water and you get a dough-like mixture. But do not knead like you would a bread ir roti dough. Gluten strands can form that will give a dense chewy texture in the fried veggie balls. So just mix very well and press so that the veggies release their juices. 

Then take a small portion of the mixture in your hands.

Press and roll it in your palm and make a round veggie ball. You can spread some oil on your palms while making the vegetable balls.

Make all veggie balls this way and keep aside.

frying veg balls

For a low fat version, you can cook the veggie balls in an appe-appam pan like I did.

Alternatively you can, heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. Add a small piece of a ball to the hot oil. If the balls does not stick or settle down at the bottom of the pan, but comes up steadily the oil is ready for frying these veg manchurian balls. If the balls break, then some more binding agent is required. So you can add 2 to 3 teaspoons of some more all purpose flour (maida).

Gently place the balls in the hot oil. The oil has to be medium hot. Too much heat and the manchurian balls will be browned from top and uncooked from inside. Less hot oil will make the balls absorb too much of oil.

When cooked from one side, turn the balls with a slotted spoon.

Fry the balls till crisp and golden.

Remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and drain as much as oil as possible.

Place the fried veg manchurian balls on kitchen paper towels.

Whatever the method, so it in batches and set aside.

making manchurian recipe

In a small bowl take the following three sauces - soy sauce, tomato ketchup and red chilli sauce.

Mix the sauces very well and keep aside.

In another small bowl take 1 tbsp cornflour and 2 tbsps water. Mix very well and keep aside.

Heat 1 to 1.5 tbsps oil in a pan or wok. Add the chopped spring onions, finely chopped ginger, finely chopped garlic and finely chopped green chillies.

Stir fry on medium flame till the onions turn translucent.

Now add the mixed sauces.

Stir and mix very well.

Add 1 to 1.25 cups water.

Let the mixture come to a boil.

Mix the cornflour paste again in the bowl (as the cornflour settles at the bottom) and then add in the pan.

As soon as you add cornflour paste, mix very well so that there are no lumps. Continue to stir and mix when the veg manchurian gravy is cooking. Simmer till the sauce thickens and you see a glaze in it. There should be no raw taste of the cornflour in the sauce. Cooking sauce or gravy takes about 3 to 4 minutes on a medium flame. If the sauce is too thick, then you add some water. If it is too thin, then you can add some cornflour.

When the veg manchurian sauce thickens, add ½ teaspoon black pepper powder.

Season with a bit of salt. Do keep in mind that the soy sauce, chilli sauce and tomato ketchup already has salt in it. So add less salt and as per your taste preferences.

Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar. Mix very well.

Then add the fried veg manchurian balls. Also add 1 teaspoon of Rice vinegar or regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar. 

Gently stir and coat the veg manchurian balls in the gravy.

Switch off the flame add chopped spring onion greens.

Serve veg manchurian hot garnished with some spring onion greens. Veg manchurian gravy goes well with veg fried rice, plain rice and even bread or the chapati or rotis.

Notes

The best part of any Chinese dish is you can change the consistency as per your liking. If you want a thin consistency, add some veg broth or water. If you want a thick consistency, add a few teaspoons of cornflour paste. This dish thickens after it cools down. So when reheating you may have to add some water.

There is no MSG to the recipe. If you want a more restaurant style effect, you can do so. But a word of caution. MSG or mono sodium glutamate is not good for the health.

Remember to fry the veg manchurian balls on medium heat. If they are fried on a high heat, then the outside will get cooked and the inside will be not cooked leaving a doughy taste in the mouth.

If they are fried on a low heat, they will absorb oil and this will make them oily and soggy.

I like the sweet sour taste of indo Chinese food and hence I have added sugar to the recipe.

Also as the soy sauce I use does not have any sugar added to it. You may avoid this or check the ingredients list in your soy sauce if sugar is there in it or not. You can also add tomato sauce for some tang and sweetness.