Gobi Manchurian

Posted on by Eateries Delightful

Gobi Manchurian is a very popular Indo Chinese dish – it is crispy, tangy, sweet, and spicy. Prepared using batter-coated, deep-fried cauliflower florets tossed in flavored sauce.

There are different versions of the Manchurian recipe – dry, semi-dry, and gravy. Dry Gobi Manchurian is crispy whereas the gravy version is usually soft and soggy.

What is Gobi Manchurian?

It is an authentic Indo-Chinese recipe, and a very popular Appetizer in India

The cauliflower florets are first fried by coating them in a batter which is made of flour-cornstarch. It makes them crispy.

Fried florets are tossed in a Manchurian sauce which is made with soy sauce, vinegar and chilli sauce is slightly sweet, tangy & spicy. It can also be made spicer if you add a lot of Hot Chilli Sauce & green chillies.

The list of ingredients might be daunting, but it is relatively easy to prepare and can be done within 40 mins.

By adding extra water and sauces, you can change this recipe to a semi-dry or gravy version.

How to make Vegan Gobi Manchurian ?

Ingredients that you will need to make this recipe –

Make the florets :

  • medium cauliflower
  • unbleached all-purpose flour or rice flour
  • fine cornmeal
  • salt per taste
  • water
  • red paprika
  • Oil for frying

Manchurian sauce :

  • oil
  • tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • green chillies
  • chopped bell pepper
  • chopped spring onions
  • soy sauce
  • rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
  • red chilli sauce or any hot sauce
  • tomato ketchup (optional)
  • brown sugar or coconut sugar
  • salt
  • crushed pepper
  • water

Few Tips:

  1. Use good quality sauces. Good soy sauce and good vinegar & chilli sauce makes a huge difference in the final outcome. When you use dark soy, you will get a dark share of Gobi Manchurian. I used light low sodium soy sauce in the recipe.
  2. do all the prep work in advance: Make sure to have all the chopped veggies ready and sauces set nearby before heating the pan. Sauteeing veggies and making sauce happen on high heat and you do not want to burn the sauce while running around to get the ingredients.
  3. Make the sauce before you fry cauliflower– and add the fried crispy cauliflower to the sauce just before serving. Florets will not remain crispy if they sit in the sauce for long

There are four steps involved while making this recipe.

  • Prepare the florets,
  • make the sauce for the florets
  • fry the florets &
  • then toss the florets in the sauce.

Prepare the florets:

Wash and cut the cauliflower into pieces. Soak the florets in boiling water for 5-10 mins. [15-20 pieces of cauliflower may have to soak in 3 – 4 cups of boiling water]. Drain the water, wipe and leave them to air dry.

While making the batter, you can swap all-purpose flour with rice flour. Prepare the batter while the cauliflower is being dried. In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, paprika, salt. Whisk until lump-free and smooth. Set it aside.

Make the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.

Add green chillis and bell pepper and saute in high flame for 2 mins.

Add soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, pepper, paprika(red chilli powder) . Mix gently and add water.

Add salt, sugar and continue cooking in medium heat until sauce thickens. Tomato ketchup can be added now. Taste test and add salt if needed. Set aside.

Fry the Florets:

Heat oil in a deep bottom pan.

Dip each floret in the batter and drop them gently using spoon or fingers in the oil.

Deep fry them in medium flame until its golden brown. (Stir slowly while frying).

Drain the excess oil by placing the fried florets on a paper towel

For healthier option, you can shallow fry or bake @ 400F for 20-25 mins tossing every 10 mins

Toss the florets:

Transfer the cauliflower florets into the sauce. Let the sauce be warm when you do this. & toss well

Add chopped spring onions & serve along with fried rice or Hakka noodles

Your valuable feedback is appreciated. If you try this recipe, leave a comment below, rate it, or tag a photo #eateriesdelightful on Instagram 🙂

Gobi Manchurain

Crispy battered cauliflower tossed in Manchurian sauce. Serves as an appetizer and pairs up really well with fried rice or noodles.

Preparing the florets

  • 1 medium cauliflower
  • 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup fine cornmeal
  • salt per taste
  • water (to make flowing batter, (1/2 cup + 1-2 tbsp))
  • 1 tsp red paprika
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • Oil for frying

Manchurian Sauce

  • 1 tbsp flavorless oil
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1-2 green chilies
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper
  • 1/3 cup chopped spring onions
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp +1 tsp red chilli sauce or Sriracha hot sauce (adjust this based on your preference)
  • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup (optional, add this for sweet and tangy flavour)
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar or 2 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp crushed pepper
  • 4 tbsp water

Preparation: Florets

  1. Wash and clean the cauliflower. Cut it into pieces and soak it in boiling water for 5-10 mins. [15-20 pieces of cauliflower may have to soaked in 3 -4 cups of boiling water]. Drain the water, wipe and leave them to air dry.
  2. Prepare the batter while the cauliflower is being dried. In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, paprika, salt. Whisk until lump-free and smooth.

Manchurian Sauce :

  1. In a pan, heat the oil. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.
  2. Add green chillis and bell pepper and saute in high flame for 2 mins.
  3. Add soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, pepper, paprika(red chilli powder) . Mix gently and add water.
  4. Add salt, sugar and continue cooking in medium heat until sauce thickens. Tomato ketchup can be added now.

Fry Florets

  1. Heat oil in a deep bottom pan.
  2. Dip each floret in the batter and drop them gently using spoon or fingers in the oil. Deep fry them in medium flame until its golden brown. (Stir slowly while frying). You can also shallow fry or bake it for healthier options.
  3. Drain the excess oil by placing the fried florets on a paper towel

Toss the florets in the sauce

  1. Mix the florets with sauce gently, and add chopped spring onions & cilantro.
  2. Transfer the Manchurian to a plate, and serve hot.

Notes:

  • When I use low spicy red chilli sauce, I skip ketchup and use an extra tbsp of this sauce in the recipe. Sky valley red chilli sauce – https://skyvalleyfoods.com/shop/sky-valley-sweet-chili-sauce.
  • Mixing air-dried florets in corn flour will give you crispy Manchurian.
  • Based on your taste, adjust the sauces of the Manchurian.
  • Mix 1/4 tsp of red chilli powder with 3 tbsp of water, and add it to the sauce for extra colour. This will spice up the Manchurian sauce.
  • Semi-dry version: Double the amount of soy sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce, ketchup. Mix 1/2 tbsp of cornflour with 1/2 cup of water, and stir into the sauces. Adjust the sweet, sour and spice according to the taste.
  • Gravy version: triple the amount of soy sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce, tomato ketchup. Mix 1 tbsp of cornflour with 1 cup of water, stir into the hot sauces. Adjust the sweet, spice and sour per the taste.

 

 

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you. Leave a comment below or share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #harshrurecipes.

Happy cooking!

Keep in touch?

Leave a comment