Cottage Cheese and Vegetable Manchurian Recipe

Cottage Cheese and Vegetable Manchurian – Deep-fried dumplings ( made of cottage cheese, cabbage, carrot and capsicum)  in  a spicy soya sauce based gravy.

Cottage cheese and vegetables have been mixed together with corn flour and refined flour for binding and flavored with minced garlic cloves, black pepper powder and salt. Cottage cheese helps in making soft manchurian balls.

Gravy has been prepared with spring onion bulbs, carrot and capsicum and flavored with ginger, garlic, sauces and a few spices. I like to add a lot of vegetable while making indian-chinese cuisine at home. You can skip carrot and capsicum and make simple yet very flavorful gravy with remaining ingredients.

It pairs very well with rice dishes like rice and vegetable melange and hakka noodles.

INGREDIENTS

For Manchurian Balls

• 100 Gms. Cottage Cheese (Paneer)
• 1 Small Capsicum (Finely Chopped)
• 1 Small Carrot (Grated)
• 1/2 Medium Cabbage (Grated)
• 8-10 Garlic Cloves (Minced)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Refined Flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Cornflour + 2 Tbsp Cornflour ( For Rolling )
• 1 Tsp Black Pepper Powder
• Oil for Deep-Frying
• Salt

For Manchurian Gravy

• 5 Spring Onion Bulbs (Chopped)
• 1 Small Capsicum ( Chopped)
• 1 Small Carrot (Chopped)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Garlic ( Finely Chopped)
• 1/2 Tbsp Ginger (Finely Chopped)
• 1/2 Tbsp Ginger (Grated)
• 1 1/4 Tbsp Soya Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Red Chilli Sauce
• 1 1/2 Tsp Chilli Vinegar / White Vinegar
• 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper Powder
• 1 Tsp Red Chilli Flakes
• 1 Tsp Sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Refined Flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Cornflour
• Salt
• 2 1/2- 3 Cups of Water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Spring Onion Stalk (Chopped/ For Garnishing)

 

METHOD

For Manchurian Balls

1. Mix all the ingredients and shape into balls. Add more cornflour if you have difficulty in binding . Make sure that vegetables are dry before chopping, else it will become very difficult to bind them. Adding too much cornflour alters the taste.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep-frying manchurian balls.
3. Keep a plate ready with remaining cornflour spread over it.
4. Roll manchurian balls lightly over corn flour and deep-fry at medium flame. Deep-fry 4-5 manchurian balls at a time.
5. Transfer to a paper towel for absorbing excess oil.

For Manchurian Gravy

1. Heat sesame oil in a pan and cook garlic for a minute. Make sure that garlic does not become brown in color.
2. Add chopped spring onion bulbs and ginger. Saute till onion turns soft.
3. Add chopped carrot and capsicum. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. In the meantime, make a slurry with cornflour powder, refined flour, soya sauce, red chilli sauce and half cup of water. Whisk it so that no lumps remain in slurry.
5. Once vegetables are cooked, pour slurry over them.
6. Also, add vinegar, black pepper powder, chilli flakes, sugar, salt and 2 cups of water.
7. Let gravy cook for 6-8 minutes. It will start to thicken and change into beautiful brown color. Add more water if gravy becomes too thick.
8. Add manchurian balls. If you are serving immediately cook them in gravy for a couple of minutes else just turn off the heat.
9. Garnish with chopped spring onion stalk at the time of serving.