Vegetable Manchurian

One more popular Chinese dish we miss from Indian Chinese restaurants and also one that i never tried my hands at back home. But like many other recipes, this one i started preparing after moving to Europe.
It is really easy to make but while eating those deep fried vegetable balls, it is easy to be bothered by calorie conscious mind but it's worth it to ignore it for a day so do not let mundane things like the weighing scale bother you, Just dig into these deep fried delights and enjoy!

Let's collect the Ingredients:

First the vegetable balls:

3 cups cabbage, grated
1¼ cups carrots, grated
1/2 cup French beans, chopped
½ cup Spring onions, chopped
1 green capsicum, seeded and chopped
2 ttsp corn flour / corn starch
5 tbsp refined flour (maida)
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (European Garlic cloves are bigger than Indian, so this number can be reduced to 2-3)
1 green chilli, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying

Then the sauce:

2 tbsp Oil
1" Ginger, chopped
4-6 cloves Garlic, chopped ( Same way again in case of bigger Garlic cloves reduce to 3-5)
3 Green chilies, chopped
2 tbsp, Soy Sauce
1 tbsp, Sugar
2 tsp, Ajinomoto/MSG (optional)
salt to taste
21/2 cups, Vegetable stock
2 tbsp, Cornflour/ corn starch
1 tbsp Vinegar

Let's start Cooking:

For the vegetable balls:

- Take all the vegetables and salt, mix well.
- Add refined flour, cornflour and 1 tbsp soy sauce and mix well.
- Mix thoroughly, Shape into marble sized balls.
- Heat sufficient oil in a wok and deep fry the balls in small batches till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.

For the sauce :

- Heat two tablespoons oil in a wok or pan. Stir-fry chopped ginger and garlic briefly. Add green - chilies. Stir-fry for a few secs. Add soy sauce, sugar, MSG(optional) and salt to taste.
- Stir in Veg. Stock and bring to a boil.
- Stir in corn flour blended in a cup of water and cook for a couple of minutes or till the sauce starts to thicken, stirring continuously.
- Add vinegar and mix well.

To serve :
- Put the vegetable balls in the sauce and bring to a boil, just before serving.
- Serve hot, garnish with chopped spring onion greens. Enjoy !

Tips:

- If you want to serve it dry without sauce, reduce the stock to one cup and add corn flour in the sauce to one and a half tbsp only.
- Add some water or vegetable stock to thin down the sauce if it is too thick.

~Lopa