Manchurian Recipe | Veg Manchurian Gravy
Manchurian is a popular Indo-Chinese dish made with crispy fried mixed vegetable balls simmered in a spicy, sweet, tangy, umami sauce or gravy. Veg Manchurian gravy pairs well with noodles, fried rice, or plain steamed rice.
- Prep time
- 40 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 3 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup carrot (– grated)
- 1/2 cup cabbage (– finely chopped (purple or green))
- 1/4 cup green bell pepper (– finely chopped (capsicum))
- 1/4 cup spring onions (– finely chopped (scallions))
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns (– freshly crushed or black pepper powder or white pepper powder)
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch ((cornflour))
- 1/2 tsp salt (or add as per taste)
- oil (– as required, for shallow or deep frying - sunflower oil or any neutral tasting oil)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch ((known as cornflour in India))
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 to 1.5 tablespoons oil (– toasted sesame oil or sunflower oil or any neutral tasting oil)
- 1/4 cup spring onion whites (– chopped (scallion whites) or 1/4 cup finely chopped onions)
- 1 tbsp ginger (– finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp garlic (– finely chopped)
- 2 green chillies (– finely chopped)
- 1/4 cup capsicum (– finely chopped (green bell pepper), optional)
- 1 tbsp celery (– finely chopped, optional)
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 to 3 teaspoons red chilli sauce ((spicy and not sweet))
- 1 tsp rice vinegar ( or regular white vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
- 1 to 1.25 cups water (or vegetable stock)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper powder (or freshly crushed black pepper or ground white pepper powder)
- salt (to taste)
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon raw sugar (or white sugar, add as required)
- 1 tbsp spring onion greens ((scallion greens), for garnishing)
Instructions
- 1
Take the finely chopped or grated veggies in a bowl.
- 2
Next add the dry ingredients - cornstarch, all-purpose flour, black pepper and salt.
- 3
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 that a bread or 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.
- 4
Then take a small portion of the mixture in your hands.
- 5
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.
- 6
Make all veggie balls this way and set aside.
- 7
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 ball breaks, then some more binding agent is required. So you can add 2 to 3 teaspoons of some more all-purpose flour.
- 8
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.
- 9
When cooked from one side and light golden or golden, turn the balls with a slotted spoon.
- 10
Fry the balls till crisp and golden turning over as needed for even cooking.
- 11
Remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and drain as much as oil as possible.
- 12
Place the fried veg manchurian balls on kitchen paper towels.
- 13
Fry the veg manchurian balls this way in batches and keep aside.
- 14
In a small bowl take the following three sauces - soy sauce, tomato ketchup and red chilli sauce.
- 15
Mix the sauces very well and set aside.
- 16
In another small bowl take 1 tablespoon cornflour and 2 tablespoons water. Mix very well and set aside.
- 17
Heat 1 to 1.5 tablespoons oil in a pan or wok.
- 18
Add the chopped spring onions, finely chopped ginger, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped green chilies and finely chopped capsicum.
- 19
Stir fry on medium flame till the onions turn translucent.
- 20
Now add the mixed sauces. Stir and mix very well.
- 21
Add 1 to 1.25 cups water. Let the mixture come to a boil.
- 22
Mix the cornflour paste again in the bowl (as the cornflour settles at the bottom) and then add in the pan.
- 23
As soon as you add cornflour paste, mix very well so that there are no lumps.
- 24
Continue to stir and mix when the veg manchurian gravy is cooking. Simmer till the sauce thickens and you see a glaze in it.
- 25
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 heat. If the sauce is too thick, then you add some water. If it is too thin, then you can add some cornflour.
- 26
When the veg manchurian sauce thickens, add ½ teaspoon black pepper powder.
- 27
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.
- 28
Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar. Mix very well.
- 29
Add the fried veg manchurian balls. Also add 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar or regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- 30
Gently stir and coat the veg manchurian balls in the gravy.
- 31
Turn off the heat add chopped spring onion greens.
- 32
Serve Veg Manchurian gravy hot garnished with some spring onion greens.
- 33
This Manchurian gravy pairs well with veg fried rice, plain steamed rice and even bread or the chapati or roti.