Ani's Kitchen Stories

This Indo Chinese fusion dish Chicken Veggie Manchurian is the result of the adaptation of Chinese cooking and seasoning techniques to suit Indian tastes. Here the Manchurian fritters are made of minced chicken and mixed veggies where you can get the taste of both the worlds. The chicken lover will get the taste of chicken and the veggies gives the texture. Try it out and I’m sure you’ll love it.

This particular dish goes best with plain rice or fried rice as well as noodles. The manchurian fritters dunked in the sweet and spicy sauce simply taste amazing and has always been a treat for kids and youngsters.

Manchurian was initially associated with chicken, when Nelson Wang—a restaurateur of Chinese descent who was born in Kolkata—opened the China Garden restaurant in Mumbai. Over the years, Chicken or veg manchurian has become a staple in Indo Chinese cuisine.

The ingredients that’s needed in the recipe is quite simple yet comes with a long list. For the Manchurian fritters I’ve used minced chicken, vegetables (cabbage, carrot, celery, bokchoy, bell pepper and spring onion) The choice of veggies is totally up to your choice. Cauliflower and beans also works great. If you want to skip chicken and want to make it pure veg, go ahead and follow the same recipe without the minced chicken. The veggie Manchurian fritters equally turns out delicious. I’ve made both the versions and I guarantee you that.

Regarding the sauce, I’ve used Rice vinegar, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame seed oil to get the maximum flavour and taste. If you don’t have the rice vinegar, plain distilled vinegar will also do the work. Feel free to add the ketchup or chilli sauce as well in the sauce mixture if you like the taste of it.

Ingredients: (serves 4-5)

200 gms of minced chicken

1 cup of grated cabbage

1 carrot grated

1 red bell pepper finely chopped

2 stalk celery finely chopped

1 bok choy finely chopped

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 tsp crushed ginger

2 stalks chopped spring onions

2 chopped green chilies

2 bread cut into pieces

4 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp corn flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

Crushed white peppercorns

Drizzle of roasted sesame seed oil

1/2 tsp rice vinegar

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

For the sauce:

1/2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

2 stalks of chopped spring onions

1-2 chopped green chilies

6-7 cloves of chopped garlic

1/2 inch of crushed & chopped ginger

2 tbsp water

1 tsp corn flour

Crushed white or black peppercorns

Oil for frying

Instructions:

In a bowl add the onion, cabbage, carrot, celery, bok choy, bell pepper, salt and pepper. Mix it all together, cover and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. This will release the extra moisture from the veggies.

Now squeeze the excess water out of the veggies. Add the minced meat, chopped spring onion, chilli, chopped ginger and garlic, crushed white pepper, all purpose flour, corn flour, baking powder & baking soda, vinegar and sesame seed oil. Mix it all together and make small round balls. Continue making small balls with the rest of the mixture.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan. The oil should be enough to make the manchurian balls float. Do not over crowd the manchurian balls. Fry it on a low to medium flame until, all the sides are golden in colour. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Continue frying the rest of the balls.

For the sauce

In a small bowl, stir soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, crushed peppercorns and water.

In a separate pan heat oil, add chopped spring onion (the white part) chillies, ginger and garlic. Sauté for a minute or two.

Now add the sauce mixture, let it bubble in high flame. When the sauce thickens, add the fried manchurian fritters and gently toss in the sauce. Make a corn flour slurry and pour over the sauce. Give a toss. Garnish with the chopped green onions and enjoy with rice or noodles of your choice.

Notes: The Manchurian fritters can be made beforehand and can be stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Just make sure to fry or bake the fritters before adding it in the sauce.