Healthy Vegetable Manchurian

Black plate with a stack of veg manchurian.

Healthy Vegetable Manchurian

Veg Manchurian is a very popular Indo-Chinese dish that is served as an appetizer or as a side dish. This low fat version is made in an aebleskiver pan.

Author: Pavani

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Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 1

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: fusion, indo chinese

Servings: Servings

Ingredients

For Vegetable Manchurian:

2 cups Cabbage, finely chopped
1 Medium Carrot, grated (about ½cup)
¼ cup Green Beans, finely chopped
¼ cup Scallions/ Green Onions, finely chopped
¼ cup Mushrooms, finely chopped (optional)
2~3 tablespoons All purpose flour
2 tablespoons Corn Starch
To taste Salt & Pepper
As needed Oil, for frying

For the Gravy:

2 tablespoons Oil
1" Ginger piece, finely grated
2~3 Garlic cloves, finely minced
4~5 Scallions, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
½ cup Green Pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon Schezwan sauce or Green Chili sauce (adjust as per taste)
2 tablespoons Tomato Ketchup
1 cup Water/ Stock (adjust as per desired consistency)
2 teaspoons Corn Starch
To taste Salt & Pepper

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Instructions

To make Veggie Manchurian Balls:

In a large bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, green beans, mushrooms (if using) and scallions. Add the all purpose flour, cornstarch and salt & pepper. Mix well.
Take a tablespoon of veggie mixture in the palm and press to make a ball. If the mixture is too wet and sticks to the hands, then add 1 tablespoon all purpose flour. Mix well and try again until you can shape them. The mixture will still be sticky but you will be able to from into rounds. Place them on a plate.
Heat the paniyaram/ aebleskiver pan and add about 1~2 teaspoons oil in each depression. Gently slide in the veggies rounds into the oil.
Cook them on medium flame, until one side turns golden brown, about 2~3 minutes. Gently flip them using a fork or a spoon.
Cover and cook until the second side is golden and the veggie balls are completely cooked through, will take about 2 more minutes.
Remove onto paper towel lined plate and repeat with the remaining veggie mixture.

To make the Gravy:

Heat oil in a pan, add ginger and garlic and cook until they are fragrant. Add the chopped scallions, peppers and cook for 3~4 minutes or until tender.
In the meantime whisk water/ stock with cornstarch and set aside.
Once the scallions are cooked, stir in the soy sauce, chili sauce, tomato ketchup, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute. Add the manchurian balls and toss to coat with the sauces. Next add the cornstarch slurry and cook till the gravy thickens, this will take about 2 minutes.
Garnish with chopped scallions and serve along with Fried Rice.

Video

Notes

Cabbage, carrot, bell peppers and scallions are standard veggies used in veg cauliflower.
Make sure that the veggies are chopped very fine and they are all approximately the same size. You can use a food processor to finely chop them, but make sure that the mixture does not get too mushy.
There is no added water in the manchurian balls recipe. The veggies tend to give out water when salt is added. So there is no need to add any additional water for binding.
The quantity of flours in the recipe is very little — ratio of veggies to flour is much higher. But if you find that the manchurian balls are not holding their shape while frying, then add more flour to bind them well — add 1 tablespoon flour at a time.
Manchurian balls can be made ahead of time and chilled until ready to serve. Make the sauce/ gravy just before serving and toss in the veggie balls and cook till heated through.
To make this recipe the traditional way, deep fry the veggie mixture in hot oil until golden brown on all sides. Proceed with making the sauce as described in the recipe.
Dry manchurian has no sauce/ gravy but wet manchurian is served along with a sauce. The basic ingredients for both the versions are the same. If you want to make the dry version, use less water in the recipe and if you want more sauce/ gravy, then add more water.

Nutrition

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