Vegetable manchurian is one of the popular manchurian recipes from Indo chinese cuisine. Veg manchurian is made by tossing fried mixed veg balls in sweet, sour and hot manchurian sauce.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 · 4 people
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Cuisine: Indo Chinese

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cup cabbage (finely chopped)
  • ½ cup carrot (grated (1 medium))
  • ¼ cup French beans ((finely chopped, can skip but adds flavor))
  • 2 tablespoons capsicum (grated or minced)
  • ¼ cup spring onions (finely chopped)
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch ((white corn flour))
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour ((maida) (prefer organic))
  • ¼ to ½ cup bread crumbs ((optional, for extra crisp, refer notes))
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon pepper (crushed)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
  • 2 pinches salt ((very little))
  • Oil (as needed for frying)
  • 1½ tablespoons oil
  • ¾ tablespoon garlic (finely chopped)
  • ½ tablespoon ginger (finely chopped)
  • ¼ cup spring onions (finely chopped)
  • ¼ cup bell peppers ((capsicum) finely chopped)
  • 1 tablespoons soya sauce (or tamari)
  • 2 tablespoons red chili sauce ((or any hot sauce, adjust to taste))
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup ((optional))
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar (or as needed (or apple cider vinegar))
  • ¾ tablespoon cornstarch ((white corn flour or arrowroot powder (1 tsp for dry))
  • ¼ cup water (to dissolve cornstarch(2 tbsps for dry))
  • 1 cup water (or veg stock for gravy (½ cup for dry))
  • salt (as needed)
  • 1 to 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon pepper (coarsely crushed)
  • ½ to ¾ teaspoon red chili powder (or 1 tsp red chili paste (optional, used for color))
  • 1 ½ tablespoons water (to make chili paste)

Method

Preparation for Manchurian

  1. Allow the veggies to come to room temperature first.
  2. Cut cabbage to 4 quarters and keep them immersed in luke warm water for 3 to 4 mins.
  3. Drain the water and rinse them well. Drain and chop them finely.
  4. Air dry the cabbage for a while to remove excess moisture.
  5. You can also process all the veggies in a food processor.
  6. Wash and peel the carrots and grate them.
  7. Chop the beans, spring onions & bell peppers. Mince the ginger and garlic.

Make Veg Balls

  1. Add the prepared veggies, cornstarch, plain flour, ginger garlic paste, pepper & salt to a mixing bowl. Mix everything well.
  2. You can also add bread crumbs to make the balls extra crisp.
  3. Mix everything well and make lemon sized balls. The balls must bind well without breaking.
  4. You can also optionally roll these balls in corn starch.
  5. You can make about 12 to 14 balls. Set aside all the vegetable balls.
  6. Frying balls - Heat oil in a deep pan for deep frying.
  7. Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small portion of the dough in hot oil.
  8. The dough has to come up without browning. This is the right temperature.
  9. Gently slide the balls in hot oil & fry on a medium flame.
  10. Do not disturb them for 1 min after the balls are dropped in oil.
  11. They will be delicate and may break if you have not used bread crumbs.
  12. After few seconds of frying, you can keep stirring and fry until they turn golden.
  13. Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
  14. Baking in Oven - Preheat the oven and bake the balls on a greased wire rack placed over a tray at 200 C for 20 to 23 mins.
  15. Turn them to the other sides after every 8 mins.
  16. Please be alert as the timings may vary depending on the size of the balls.

Make Manchurian Sauce

  1. Heat oil in a pan, then add ginger garlic and saute for a min.
  2. Add spring onions and capsicum. Saute for 1 to 2 mins on a high flame without burning.
  3. While these fry dissolve cornstarch in water.
  4. Lower the heat, then add soya sauce, red chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and red chilli paste.
  5. Stir the cornstarch mixture with a spoon and pour it to the pan.
  6. Next stir gently and pour water. Stir and taste the mixture.
  7. Add vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar all to suit your taste.
  8. The sauce should taste slightly sour, hot and sweet.
  9. Keep stirring and cook on a medium flame until the sauce thickens.
  10. Do not cook till very thick. The sauce will thicken further after cooling.
  11. Switch off the stove and allow the sauce to cool for 1 to 2 mins.
  12. Boiling hot sauce will make the veg balls soft and will lose the crispness.

How to Make Veg Manchurian

  1. Add the veg balls to the sauce just before serving. Garnish with spring onions.
  2. Serve veg manchurian with veg fried rice or noodles.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.