Vegetable Manchurian

A very versatile dish, it can be served as a snack and finger food at parties (with toothpicks) or it can be made with a gravy to accompany simple steamed rice. The combination of sweet, salty and hot makes this dish ideal for parties.

Makes 48 balls

Ingredients:

Since the directions for the ingredients are a bit repetitive, I’ll mention the pointers right here

*All vegetables should be finely chopped so that you get the taste and slight crunch but you don’t have to crunch through an entire carrot stick on a toothpick.

*The Garlic, Ginger and Green chillies should be cut extra fine since they need to go in the sauce. No one likes bits of stuff in their sauce.

*Wash the veggies before chopping and just after chopping the veggies start forming the balls

I. For the vegetable balls

1. Green Cabbage                                                            125 gms
2. Cauliflower                                                                   50 gms
3. Carrot (medium)                                                         1
4. Green Capsicum (medium)                                      1
5. Spring Onion (with the green stalk)                       1
6. French Beans                                                               10-12
7. Salt                                                                                 1/2 tsp
8. Black Pepper Powder                                                 1/2 tsp
9. Maida                                                                             6-8 tbsps
10. Oil to deep fry the Manchurian balls

II. For the sauce

1. Salt                                                                                 1/2 tsp
2. Sugar                                                                              a pinch
3. Light Soy Sauce                                                            2 tbsp
4. Dark Soy Sauce                                                             1 tbsp
5. Rice Vinegar                                                                  1 tbsp
6. Sweet Chilli Sauce                                                        1 tbsp
7. Water                                                                              as required
8. Cornflour                                                                        2-3 tbsps

Procedure:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the manchurian balls except the Maida in a bowl.
2. Add the Maida and knead to form spheres. Before you start this, put a wok with oil to deep fry on low flame
3. Fry the balls in not more than 5-6 at a time on medium flame. This will take long, so in the meantime I start on the sauce
4. Put another wok on a second burner with a tbsp of oil. Add the sauces and 250 ml of water.
5. Let it come to a boil then cover and cook on a low flame for 5-6 minutes. Turn the flame off
6. Fry all the manchurian balls and keep it in a vessel
7. I usually assemble this dish 10 minutes before serving. Turn the flame on.
8. Put the wok with sauce on it and let it come to a boil.
9. Make a cornflour slurry with 2-3 tsps of cornflour and 5 tsps of water
10. Add the balls to the sauce and let it boil for a minute or two
11. Add the cornflour slurry and gently mix everything.
12. Let the sauce coat the balls. Turn off the flame and serve it on a platter

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