Veg Manchurian Gravy
Veg Manchurian is an Indo-Chinese semi gravy dish made with deep fried veg balls tossed in a soya sauce based thick manchurian gravy
Ingredients
For Veg Balls
- 300 grams Cabbage
- 2 Carrots
- ½ Green Capsicum
- 1 inch Ginger
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 Green Chilli
- 4 tbsp Plain Flour or Maida
- 3 tbsp Corn Flour
- ¼ tsp Pepper Powder
- Oil for deep frying
- Salt to taste
For Gravy
- ½ Green Capsicum
- 1 Onion
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1 Green Chilli
- 2½ tbsp Soya Sauce
- 1 tsp Red Chilli Sauce
- 1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
- ½ tsp Vinegar
- 1 tsp Onion Powder optional
- ½ tsp Pepper Powder
- 1 tbsp Corn Flour
- Salt to taste
- 3 tbsp Oil
- 3 tbsp Spring Onion Greens finely chopped
Instructions
- For making the veg balls, in a bowl grate the cabbage, carrots and green capsicum in medium setting of the grater. Add some salt and let it rest for 5 mins. Squeeze the excess water from the veggies and reserve the water in a separate bowl.
- To the squeezed veggies, add 1 inch grated ginger, 1 finely chopped chilli, 3 grated cloves of garlic, plain flour, corn flour, salt and crushed pepper and mix.
- Without adding any water, gently mix and knead the ingredients to make a chapati like dough. If the dough is sticky, you could add some more flour, but be careful not to add too much.
- Take small portion of the dough and roll them into smooth small balls by greasing your hand slightly with oil.
- Heat oil in a kadai and fry the veg balls in batches on low to medium flame. Wait for a minute or two before turning the balls after dropping them in the oil, as it could break. Later, keep tossing the balls gently to get a uniform colour.
- Drain the balls onto a kitchen towel or paper, once they are golden brown in colour.
- For making the gravy, heat oil on high flame and add finely chopped ginger, garlic and green chilli. Later add half of onion which is finely chopped and cook on high flame for a minute.
- Now add the other half of onion which is cubed, and also add the cubed capsicum. Cook on high flame for couple of minutes.
- Now add the soya sauce, tomato ketchup, red chilli sauce, vinegar and onion powder and mix well.
- Next add the water squeezed out of the grated veggies and add little more water if required. Add some salt if required, but do note that the water from veggies also contains salt and soya sauce is salty too. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil.
- Once the gravy starts boiling, add corn flour slurry which was made by mixing 1 tablespoon of corn flour in half a cup of water. Mix well and cook on high flame till the gravy becomes thick and glossy.
- Now add the fried veg balls and let it cook just for couple of minutes. Finish with finely chopped spring onions.
Notes
- It is important to add some salt to the grated veggies and squeeze out the water and then make the dough for the veg balls. Do not throw away the squeezed water and use for making the gravy
- The balls are to be fried on low to medium flame, else they would be undercooked from inside.
- Be generous with the amount of garlic in the gravy as it gives a wonderful flavour and taste.
- Be cautious of the amount of salt that you add to the gravy, as the water from squeezed veggies and soya sauce contain salt as well.
- Do not add corn flour directly to the gravy and make a slurry by mixing with water and then add to the gravy, else the corn flour would turn into lumps.
- You could use sesame or groundnut oil for the gravy to get the best flavour.
- Do not overcook the veg balls after adding in the gravy.