Very finely chopped cabbage – 1 cup, about half of a medium cabbage
Grated carrot – 1 cup, about 2 large carrots
Garlic – 6 to 8 cloves, finely chopped or grated
All-purpose flour/maida – 1 tbsp
Corn flour – 3 tbsp
Soy sauce – 1 tsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying
For Manchurian gravy:
Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp
Dry red chilli – 3 to 4, broken
Ginger – 2-inch piece, finely chopped
Garlic – 8 to 10 cloves, finely chopped
Green chili – 4 to 6, finely chopped
Green bell pepper – ½, cut into 1-inch pieces
Red bell pepper – ½, cut into 1-inch pieces
Yellow bell pepper – ½, cut into 1-inch pieces
Onion – 1, large, cut into 1-inch chunks
Green onion – 4 to 5, chopped and green & white parts separated
Soy sauce – 1 tbsp
White vinegar – 1 tsp
Salt and black pepper to taste
Corn flour – 1 tbsp
Water as required
Instructions
Veg Manchurian balls:
Take a large bowl and add all the ingredients listed under Manchurian balls except the vegetable oil i.e. chopped cabbage, grated carrot, chopped garlic, all-purpose flour, corn flour, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
Mix all these ingredients preferably with hand to bring everything together. The vegetables should ooze out their water naturally which will help to bind everything together so that you can make Manchurian balls without having them falling apart. Only if your mixture is too dry, add water one spoon at a time and check the binding of the mixture. If your mixture becomes too loose, the Manchurian balls will break as soon as you drop them into hot oil.
Now scoop about a teaspoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball. Don’t make the balls too big as they will fluff up after frying and later will soak up a lot of gravy and increase in size.
Heat enough vegetable oil in a deep-frying pan. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium-low, drop the balls and fry them until golden brown in all sides. Do not increase the flame as it would brown the outside of Manchurian balls way too quick leaving the inside raw.
Fry the balls in batches and do not over-crowd the pan as they may get clogged with each other. Once the Manchurian balls are cooked through, about 5 minutes per batch, take them out using a slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with absorbent kitchen towel to soak excess oil.
Manchurian gravy:
Now to make the gravy, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet. Temper the hot oil with dry red chilies and sauté for few seconds.
Next, tip in the chopped ginger and chopped garlic and stir fry on high for 1 minute. Next add the chopped green chilies and stir them through.
Now add all the other veggies – onion, green, red and yellow bell peppers, white parts of the green onion. Stir fry everything on high heat to mix everything well and get a smoky effect on the veggies. The veggies need not be too soft, keeping them somewhat crunchy will add beautiful texture to the dish and balance with soft Manchurian balls.
Once the veggies are nicely stir-fried, season them with soy sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper (go little low on salt as soy sauce itself is quite salty). Stir them to mix well.
Add about 1 & ½ cups of water and bring it to boil. While the water is coming to boil, prepare a slurry by evenly mixing 1 tablespoon of corn flour with couple of tablespoons of water. Add this corn flour slurry to the boiling gravy – this will instantly thicken the gravy and add a shining gloss to it. Check and adjust seasoning if needed.
Finally drop in the fried Manchurian balls and toss them in the sauce to coat well. Manchurian balls will soak up a lot of the gravy, so add little more water if you feel the sauce is becoming too dry and bring it to boil.
Finally sprinkle the green part of the green onions and serve warm veg Manchurian with my easy vegetable fried rice. Enjoy!
Recipe by Everyday Indian Recipes at http://everydayindianrecipes.flavorquotient.com/restaurant-style-veg-manchurian/