Vegetable Manchurian is a popular Indo Chinese recipe which serves as a great side dish for fried rice too.I am actually bored of manchurian recipes but this veg balls manchurian is sure a welcoming change and it was surprising to see the lil one taste it as so far she has not tasted any manchurian recipe and she loved this.I usually try to cut down deep frying whereever possible especially for manchurians so this time I steam cooked the vegetables then tawa fried it, and no one complained and am all smiles now :))
Check out other manchurian recipes :
Baby Corn Manchurian Dry, Gravy
Gobi Manchurian
Mushroom Manchurian
Idli Manchurian
Vegetable Manchurian Recipe – Ingredients
Preparation Time : 25 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 3
Recipe Category: Side dish | Recipe Cuisine: Indo Chinese
Recipe Category: Side dish | Recipe Cuisine: Indo Chinese
For The Vegetable Balls:
Cabbage – 3/4 cup (finely chopped)
Carrot – 1/4 cup (finely chopped)
Beans – 1/4 cup (finely chopped)
Maida (APF) – 3 tbsp
Corn flour – 2 tbsp, heaped
Soya sauce – 1/4 tsp
Black Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt – to taste
For gravy:
Garlic – 5 flakes(finely chopped)
Spring onions(white part) – 1 tbsp chopped
Spring onions(green part) – 1 tbsp chopped
Black Pepper powder – 1 tsp
Soya sauce – 2 tsp
Tomato sauce – 1 tbsp + 2 tbsp
Corn flour – 1 tbsp (mixed with 1/4 cup water)
Water / Vegetable Stock – 1 cup
Oil – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Method:
- Steam cook the vegetables for 8-10mins, just parboiling is enough the vegetable should be crunchy.In a mixing bowl add the cooked vegetables along with all other ingredients listed under ‘For The Vegetable Balls’.
- Mix well, the water in the veggies was just enough for me to form balls so I didn’t add water separately.If you are not able to form balls then sprinkle very little water and shape them into balls as shown.Now in a paniyaram pan, add little oil in each hole and fry it in low flame till all the sides are evenly browned.Roll over to cook evenly.Alternatively, you can deep fry them too(check mynotes)
- Drain in tissue paper,Set aside.Now for the sauce : In a pan heat oil add the spring onion white part along with chopped garlic saute till golden then add soya sauce,pepper powder and 1 tbsp tomato sauce.
- Mix well and add cornflour water mixture and let it boil, once it starts boiling the color wills lowly change to deep brown color.After adding the cornflour mixture it will start thickening..Now add remaining 2 tbsp tomato sauce.Add required salt.
- Once it starts to thicken add spring onions green part, add the fried manchurian balls and mix well.Cook for 2mins for the sauce to blend well with the manchurian balls.It will turn shiny and velvety that’s the correct stage, Switch off.
Serve hot as a starter or as a side dish for fried rice.
My Notes:
- As I tawa fried it I parboiled the vegetables and then fried it.If you are planning to deep fry then skip the parboiling step and proceed with the rest.
- If you want to get the restaurant flavour then add a pinch of ajino motto, I usually don’t use it considering the health issues.
- The water in the veggies was just enough for me to form balls so I didn’t add any extra water.If you are not able to form balls then sprinkle little water and shape them into balls.But be careful, don’t add more water then forming balls will be difficult.
- Fry the veg balls only in low medium heat , if they are fried on high heat, then the outside will be cooked and the inside will be not cooked giving a uncooked taste.
- I loved the way the vegetables were cooked in steam cooking, perfect it was for the manchurian.
- Always serve hot as it may turn soggy when resting time is given.
- The sauce should not be runny it should be slightly thick, saucy with a velvety finish thats the perfect sauce for any manchurian.
- I just made few balls and fried them just for clicking sake and made the rest later while serving time, incase you are wondering if this is the quantity I got for the full ingredients list 🙂 So I tell you I got more as mentioned in my serving suggestion.
- I got around 15 small sized manchurian balls.
- This manchurian requires a little more of soya sauce then other manchurians I tried to get the rich dark shade.
- Reserve a tsp of spring onions(green part) for garnish while serving.
- I used freshly ground pepper powder and that gave a great flavour.You can reserve a tsp of pepper powder to add it at the last stage.
- As the tomato sauce I used was a bit sweet I didn’t add sugar to the sauce, if you prefer you can add a pinch of sugar to get a slightly sweet and tangy taste.
- Adjust water quantity, If its too thick then little more water.Adjust the quantity as per your preference of consistency.
Kurinji says
June 25, 2014 at 8:34 amyum yum yummy gravy….
Uma Shankar says
June 25, 2014 at 9:31 amit looks so perfect going to try it immediately!
Durga Karthik. says
June 25, 2014 at 12:16 pmNice idea to steam cook.Will follow.
traditionallymodernfood says
June 25, 2014 at 8:42 pmManchurian looks amazing. Grt combo with fried rice
Sowmya Sundararajan says
June 26, 2014 at 5:28 amThe look of it tells me that its good Chinese food. Love the manchurian balls floating in the gravy. Very well captured Sharmispassions.
A&R says
June 26, 2014 at 11:51 amGreat idea of using paniyaram pan.. Makes the dish healthy without compromising on the taste too..
Samu Sivarajan says
June 26, 2014 at 12:35 pmwoow … will try this weekend.. any other vegetables we can use ?
SHARMILEE J says
June 26, 2014 at 1:37 pmYou can use potato, peas or any other veggie of your choice
Nittu says
June 26, 2014 at 1:48 pmWow you made it perfect!
Divya Subramanian says
October 14, 2014 at 5:53 pmSteam cooking and pan frying superb idea… Will try for sure looks so easy
Maneesha Rajeshkumar says
October 29, 2014 at 8:15 amits yummy will try and do
jeffy Thomas says
October 23, 2015 at 6:44 amCan we use this same saucy gravy for chicken Manchurian??
SHARMILEE J says
October 23, 2015 at 8:05 amYes you can…
aruna sivakumar says
June 14, 2016 at 7:10 amDats a genius idea to fry in paniyarm pan sharmi… I don't like deep frying either…