What is ‘Manchurian’?
Manchurian is a widely popular main course dish of Indian Chinese fusion cuisine. A key ingredient like vegetable balls, chicken, cauliflower, soya chunks, paneer, or mushroom is crispy fried and later dunked in a sweet and spicy Chinese-style gravy sauce.
Manchuria is the name of a place in China. The invention credit of this dish goes to the Chinese migrant workers in India, who started their restaurants to cater to the local food lovers in East India.
Today we have approximately 97 lakh search results of Manchurian Recipe on Google. It is one of the staple takeaway orders in the Indian sub-continent.
Soya Chunks Manchurian is a vegetarian and vegan version of chicken Manchurian.
The Soya Chunks
Soya Chunks or the soya wadi, also known as meal maker, is the key ingredient of this vegetarian Manchurian recipe. It is a vegan, vegetarian, high-protein plant-based ingredient with a chewy, fibrous, mock meat-like texture. Across India, the packets of soya chunks are easily available at grocery stores or in the supermarket. It is mainly used for making a variety of Indian vegetarian curries.
How To Cook Soya Chunks
Step 1) Soak soya chunks in warm water to soften. Later, squeeze out all the water from the soaked chunks. They become soft, moist, and ready to use.
Step 2) For a chilli chicken-like texture, the soya chunks are coated with flour and fried till crisp. The fried soya chunks are a pretty tasty snack in itself. I keep on munching them while making the gravy for Manchurian.
Substitute soya chunks in this Manchurian recipe with firm tofu, tempeh, mushrooms, or mock meat.
Other Ingredients Required
Crispy Soya Chunks: All-purpose flour, cornflour (starch), ginger-garlic paste, salt, and black pepper. Vegetable Oil for shallow-frying. Vegetables: I love the combination of capsicum, onion, and colourful bell peppers, along with soya chunks. You can add zucchini, carrot, baby corn, mushroom, or any other vegetables of your choice. Sauces: Light Soy Sauce, Red Chilli Sauce, Tomato Sauce, White Vinegar Seasoning & Herbs: Garlic, Ginger, Spring Onion, Salt
Watch Soya Manchurian Video
My Tried & True Tips
Soya Chunks: Soak them in warm water till each soya piece is soft. Or boil them in salted hot water. Make sure to squeeze all the excess water from the soya chunks. Crispy Texture: The USP of this Manchurian gravy is the crispy bits of fried soya chunks. Deep or shallow frying the flour-coated soya chunks is the right way to get the perfect crunchy texture. But if you are not too keen on eating fried food, air fry the flour-coated soya chunks till they are crispy. The Sauce: If you like it thick and saucy, do not add too much water. But if you want a little extra gravy to accompany the rice, add 2 cups water along with a thickening cornstarch slurry and simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens.
Serving Suggestion
Soya Manchurian is an Indian Chinese main course dish. Hence, it is served with various sides such as fried rice, chili garlic noodles, mushroom fried rice, plain white rice, or Jasmine rice. If you are not keen on eating too many carbohydrates or noodles, you can serve Soya Manchurian Gravy with brown rice or quinoa. Transfer the leftover Manchurian gravy to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator. You can store it for 3 – 5 days. Next, reheat the Manchurian in the microwave or on the stovetop in a saucepan. Add ¼ Cup of water while reheating the Manchurian if it seems too thick.
More Indian Chinese Recipes
Chilli Paneer Chilli Chicken Gobi Manchurian Mushroom Fried Rice Chilli Mushroom Gravy Chinese Style Chop Suey Vegetable Hot Garlic Sauce
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