Vegetable Manchurian
I never knew that there is a fusion cuisine for Chinese and Indian until I tried this vegetable Manchurian, it looks like meatballs but trust me they are made out of chopped vegetables in a hot soy based gravy. This dish originated from the Chicken Manchurian which is probably the most popular Indian Chinese cuisine. Chicken Manchurian or Manchurian Chicken was created by a person named Nelson Wang in 1975 when he was working as a caterer of Chinese food at the Cricket Club of India, he was asked by a client to create something different which can’t be found on any menu and this dish was born. What he did was he used basic Indian ingredients such as ginger, green chillies, red onion and garlic then dressed it with Asian style sauce. Manchurian is not restricted to chicken hence we have this post which is cabbage based vegetable, there is also a cauliflower based one, seafood, mutton as well as paneer.
A really nice fusion dish where you taste both cuisines in one bite, it feels like you are eating some stir fried mixed veggies with a nice hot kick.
- 1½ packed cups finely chopped cabbage
- ½ packed cup finely chopped carrot
- ½ packed cup finely chopped capsicum
- ¼ packed cup finely chopped beans
- ¼ cup packed cup spring onions
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp chilli garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ cup vegetable stock
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
- oil
- 4 stalks spring onions, white part only finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp finely minced ginger
- 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 2 tbsp tomato sauce
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- peanut oil
- salt
- chopped spring onions, for garnishing
- Prepare a large wok or similar, add and heat up oil for deep frying.
- In a bowl combine all vegetable ball ingredients, form them into balls then set them aside. Add water if needed.
- Place each ball one by one in the hot oil and deep fry for around 5 minutes or until balls are cooked. Remove from wok then place in a paper towel lined plate to remove excess oil.
- Using a separate wok add oil then sauté garlic, chillies and ginger.
- Add sping onions then stir fry for a minute.
- Add vegetable balls and stir fry for 3 minutes.
- Combine together soy sauce, brown sugar, tomato ketchup, vinegar, vegetable stock and cornstarch. Pour solution into the wok, bring to a boil then simmer until it thickens.
- Place on a serving dish then garnish with chopped spring onions.
I thought it was nice that he was “asked by a client to create something different which can’t be found on any menu”. I wonder how often this happens these days?
This look delicious! Will definitely try this recipe when I get home! 🙂
It is a perfect blend of Chinese and Indian ideas. I love Asian fusion dishes. What kinds of beans did you use? Like a dal or Chinese green beans?
I used French beans
It look like a real meat ball. But surprisingly, it was a vegetable ball. Very good recipe for vegetarian.
I agree, fantastic recipe for vegeterians, you give me great ideas Reymund!
Cool Raymund…vegetable balls…and they look delicious…even for a meat eater like me.
Enjoy your week 🙂
they do look like meatballs! I love all the flavours in this recipe.
What a great vegetarian stew, Raymund! I just wish I could have it for dinner…
Raymund, that sounds absolutely delicious! We have an Indian restaurant here that does very delicious Chinese-ish dishes. When asked, they explained: “Indian people like Chinese food, too.”
Those are veggie balls?! Wow! I’m definitely going to give this a shot and see if the kids will eat it. I can always use to get move veggies in their diet. 🙂
A lot of ingredients for both balls and sauce: but reading down the list, most are already in one’s pantry! Looking forwards to this fusion 🙂 !
Raymund,
This was my goto dish back in India… I think in India you get like really hot version..
Yours looks absolutely fabulous, do you know in India people eat this with paratha tooo
Hmm come to think of it I am not too familiar with Indian and Chinese dishes… wait, I think my husband told me there is IndoChinese restaurant. We should check out the restaurant. This looks delicious!
I love manchurians. Never tried it until I got married a few years ago — your version seems so simple and yummy to try 🙂
I love, love, love Indo-China cuisine. All of those vegetables look so fresh and filling – great “gravy” as well.
what kind of beans? baguio beans? sitaw?
Baguio Beans po 🙂
just wanna know how many servings for this standard recipe? please send me more recipes on my email.. thank you..
Usually serving sizes here for mosy dishes are 5-6