Description

How to cook:-

Step 1 – Frying vegetable balls

1. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. Add a small piece of a ball to the hot oil. If the balls does not stick or settle down at the bottom of the pan, but comes up steadily the oil is ready for frying these veggie balls.
2. Gently place the balls in the hot oil. The oil has to be medium hot. Too much heat and the manchurian balls will be browned from top and uncooked from inside. Less hot oil will make the balls absorb too much oil.
3. When cooked from one side, turn the balls with a slotted spoon.
4. Fry the balls till crisp and golden turning them over a couple of times. Remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and drain as much as oil as possible.
5. Place the fried manchurian balls on kitchen paper towels. For a low-fat version, you can cook the veggie balls in an appe-appam pan or æbleskiver pan. Fry the veg balls this way in batches and keep aside.

Step 2: Making the sauce

1. In a small bowl take the following three sauces – ½ tablespoon soy sauce (or 1.5 teaspoons soy sauce), 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup, 2 to 3 teaspoons of red chilli sauce. The red chilli sauce is spicy and not sweet.
2. Mix the sauces very well and keep aside
3. In another small bowl take 1 tablespoon cornflour (corn starch) and 2 tablespoons water. Mix very well and keep aside.

4. Heat 1 to 1.5 tablespoons oil in a pan or wok. Add 4 tablespoons chopped spring onions (scallions), 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger, 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic, 2 green chilies (finely chopped) and ¼ cup finely chopped capsicum (green bell pepper).Adding capsicum is optional. You can use toasted sesame oil or sunflower oil or any neutral tasting oil.
5. Stir fry on medium flame till the onions turn translucent.
6. Now add the mixed sauces.
7. Stir and mix very well.
8. Add 1 to 1.25 cups water.
9. Let the mixture come to a boil.
10. Mix the corn flour paste again in the bowl (as the corn flour settles at the bottom) and then add in the pan.
11. As soon as you add corn flour paste, mix very well so that there are no lumps.
12. Continue to stir and mix when the manchurian gravy is cooking. Simmer till the manchurian sauce thickens and you see a glaze in it. There should be no raw taste of the cornflour in the sauce.Cooking sauce or gravy takes about 3 to 4 minutes on a medium flame. If the sauce is too thick, then you add some water. If it is too thin, then you can add some cornflour.
13. When the manchurian gravy thickens, add ½ teaspoon black pepper powder.
14. Season with a bit of salt. Do keep in mind that the soy sauce, chilli sauce and tomato ketchup already has salt in it. So add less salt and as per your taste preferences.
15. Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar or more if required. Mix very well.
16. Then add the fried vegetable balls. Also add 1 teaspoon rice vinegar or regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
17. Gently stir and coat the fried vegetable balls in the gravy.
18. Switch off the flame and add chopped spring onion greens.
19. Serve Veg Manchurian Gravy hot garnished with some spring onion greens (scallion greens). It goes well with veg fried rice or schezwan fried rice or plain steamed rice or noodles and even bread or roti.