I woke up this morning, and while sipping a cup of coffee, I took a glance at the weather outside. It was a misty Sunday morning, and a beautiful view from my window. On the terrace, a family was having breakfast together. This made me realize, that lockdown bonded each and every member of the family. Watching their happiness and togetherness, made me feel nostalgic and I started reminiscing those beautiful moments from past, when my parents use to prepare my favorite dish Veg Manchurian and, I use to eat with a smile on my face. Now during this period of time, I miss my family and the home food. Not only this, a foodie like me also love eating junk food from outside, but as we need to take precautionary steps hence I didn’t wanted to order online, rather prepare it by myself. So I thought of cooking something really close to my heart, which is Veg Manchurian. As I stay alone I wanted to prepare something, really easy with the vegetables used in our daily life. If you are not aware of Veg Manchurian then let me tell you, it’s an Indo-Chinese dish which is easy to prepare with veggies. It is a form of dumplings which is dunked into sweet, sour and hot Manchurian sauce.
Ingredients required for manchurian balls:
• 1¼ cup finely chopped
• ½cup beetroot,
• 3 tablespoon flour,
• ½ cup carrot,
• 1 potato finely grated
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 tea spoon ginger garlic paste
• Salt based on your taste
• 4 tablespoons of oil
If in case you don’t have beetroot you can still prepare with other three vegetables.
Ingredients required for manchurian sauce:
• ¾ tablespoons grated ginger
• ¾ tablespoons grated garlic
• ½ tea spoon pepper
• Salt based on taste
• ½ capsicum finely chopped
• ¼ chopped spring onion
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce.
• ¾th teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon vinegar/tomato sauce
• ¾ cornflour. In case you don’t have cornflour, then you can make a medium thick mixture of flour and water, which can help you to prepare little Manchurian balls. The batter should be a mixture of 3 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of maida (flour)
• 1 cup water for the gravy
Preparation of manchurian balls :
Wash the vegetables and cut the cabbage into four quarters, then immerse them for 3 to 4 minutes in lukewarm water. Once you drain the water, chop them finely and let the cabbage dry in the room temperature. In the meanwhile grate the carrot and the half- beetroot along with the potato. As I stay alone and during this lockdown I was unable to get the cornflour hence I chose to prepare a batter of water and maida to prepare the manchurian balls. Add the vegetables in the batter and mix them well with pepper and salt. Make little balls and bind them well so that it won’t break. Now, pour 4 spoons of oil and fry 5 Manchurian balls at a time until it turns golden in colour.
Preparation Heat preparation sauce:
Hear the oil in the pan, then fry grated ginger and garlic for 30 seconds. After this add chopped capsicum and onion in the pan. While frying the vegetables, add a pinch of salt along with jeera (cumin) powder, turmeric, pepper and chilli powder. Saute them well along with soya sauce and tomato sauce. You can add vinegar instead of tomato sauce if it’s available in your kitchen. Then add 1 cup water and keep stirring every two minutes on a medium flame until the water evaporates and the sauce thickens further. Now add the veg balls to the sauce and before serving, garnish them with spring onions and coriander.
Tip to follow as a beginner:
Before, you fry, check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small portion of the dough in the oil. If it becomes brown, then it is the right temperature and it should be prepared in medium flame.
I hope it helps you 😊
Food fantasy 