Vegetable Manchurian

This is my husband 's all time favourite dish, and understandably, I make this dish very often. This is a popular In0-Chinese dish (which means Chinese cuisine-Indian style). It sounds difficult, on the contrary, it is really easy to make. When you eat these deep fried vegetable balls in a soya sauce based gravy, do not let mundane things like the weighing scale bother you! Just dig into these deep fried delights and enjoy!


Preparation Time : 15 mins.
Cooking Time : 20 mins.
Serves 4.


Ingredients:
For the Vegetable balls:
3 cups cabbage, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups carrots, grated
1/3 cup onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp cornflour
5 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1/4 tsp Ajinomoto powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
oil for deep frying


For the manchurian sauce:
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup spring onions both greens and whites, finely chopped
1 tbsp of garlic, finely chopped
2 green chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp of ginger, finely chopped
1 cup of clear vegetable stock or water
1 tbsp of soya sauce
1 tbsp og cornflour mixed with 1 cup of water
2 pinches of sugar
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp of oil
salt to taste

For Garnish:
1 tbsp Spring onion


Method:
For the Vegetable balls:
1. Combine the cabbage, carrots, onions, all purpose flour(maida), cornflour, garlic, green chilli, Ajinomoto, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well.
2. Shape spoonfuls of the mixture into a small balls. If you find it difficult to form the balls, sprinkle a few drops of water to bind the mixture.
3. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown on a medium-high flame. Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside.

For the sauce:
1. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan on a high flame. Add gralic, ginger and green chillies and fry for few minutes.
2. Add onions and fry till they are translucent.
3. Add the cornflour paste, stock, soya sauce, sugar, ketchup and simmer for few minutes.
4. Add spring onions and cook it for few more minutes and the sauce is ready.
5. Just before serving, put the vegetable balls in the sauce and bring it to a boil. Serve hot.

Note: Add some water or vegetable stock if the sauce becomes too thick.