We, not just sathya and I but the whole family.. his, mine, ours.. are huge Indo Chinese cuisine lovers! Manchurian, fried rice, noodles, spring rolls, sweet corn soup, chilli paneer.. name it.. we love it.

There is not much Indo-Chinese restaurants near we stay but have one of the best place after a 40 minutes drive! As we hardly go there because of driving time, we look for that day when it’s all Indo-Chinese cooking. We plan to do nothing but watch a movie after good food and the plan motivates us to even finish the long pending work!

This is a recipe I have followed for years now, a recipe that Amma & I worked on a lot and now sharing with you all! The recipe below is after all the corrections, yeah we did screw up many times while trying to make “restaurant style” Gobi Manchurian at home. As I genuinely share the recipe, I have no problem when you share with others, but would appreciate mentioning us or adding a link to our website. Thanks in advance!

Gobi Manchurian reminds me of My holidays in Bangalore at cousin’s place, Ah such fun-filled days with cousins and we used to have Manchurian every alternative day.

Other Manchurian variations with the same procedure is Baby corn, Vegetable and Soy Chunks Manchurian

Ingredients you will need:

1/2 of large Cauliflower, cut into bite size florets

For Batter and frying:
4 tbsp Corn Flour
2 tbsp All purpose flour/Maida
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste
1/4 tsp Pepper – Freshly crushed
1/2 tsp Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Water (to form batter consistency)- Adjust with a tbsp or two water.
Salt to taste
Oil for deep-frying

For the Sauce:
1 tbsp Oil
3 cloves Garlic – finely chopped
1/4 cup Green Bell pepper, chopped
Half of medium Onion – chopped
2 tsp soy Sauce
1 tbsp Tomato Paste/Ketchup
1 tsp Vinegar
Red Chilli Sauce – to taste
1/2 tsp Honey (For the glaze and mild sweet taste!)
3 Stalks Green Onions
1 tsp corn flour mixed with 3 tbsp water
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Heat 1 tbsp Oil in a medium non-stick pan and add garlic, Onions and Green bell pepper (all at the same time) and Sprinkle salt. Cook but not too long that the onions and bell pepper lose their crunch.

Mix Tomato paste (Ketchup too works good) Soy sauce, vinegar and Red Chili Sauce separately in a cup and add to the onion-bell pepper/capsicum.

Add Corn flour – Water and cook for 1-2 minutes until sauce starts to thicken. Set the sauce aside.

For gravy version, Mix 2 tbsp corn flour with 5 tbsp water.

To make batter: In a wide bowl, add All-purpose flour/Maida, Corn Starch, ginger-garlic paste, soy sauce, Salt, Black Pepper and Water and mix until there are no lumps.

Wash the cauliflower florets in running water and steam/microwave on high for 5 minutes. The cauliflower should stay intact and do not over cook. Mean time heat the oil for deep-frying.

Coat  the Cauliflower pieces with batter and deep fry until they are crunchy, probably 3 or 4 minutes. A mistake I used to do earlier was add a lot of Cauliflower pieces to the oil which brings down the heat of oil. Add a few pieces at a time and fry them in batches. A few at a time helps the cauliflower cook well.

Once all the cauliflower pieces are fried, On high heat, add it to the pan with the sauce and add 1/2 tsp honey. Toss well to coat Cauliflower completely. Remove from heat and add Green Onions and toss again.

Serve Immediately as an appetizer or side for main course.

Happy cooking