For all those of you who have been kind and patient enough to follow my blog are aware by now that Friday mornings, or rather the Weekends are the time I wake up from my Slumber, I mentally die on Saturday night just thinking about having to go to Work! Ugh and I live again, rather rise up from my deep mental sleep, on Wednesday nights.. :D :D Just the thought of NOT having to go to work and see all these WONDERFUL people at work gives me an unbelievably incredible RUSH!
Such an amazing and enormous feeling that I can barely sleep past 6.30 on Friday mornings... There is SO much to do, do much to live, so much to breathe! No over exaggeration here... I am in a frenzy to do ALL things at one go!! This Friday I had decided I wanted to Cook! :D I would like to think I am a fairly decent cook, and the only person who would vouch for that without batting an eye lid would be my dear Brother! He being young, complete foodie, and forever hungry will gobble up anything and everything I subject him to and also appreciate IT! :D But this time around I did manage to get reviews from everyone at home. So I am guessing I have done something right especially considering this being My first attempt at making the Manchurian!! :)
At about 8.00 in the morning, I make this plan of cooking and since I am a huge Indo-Chinese food fan, I decided I wanted to stir up something Chinese and something Indian at the same time! The rich spicy taste native to this realm of fusion cooking is hard to resist, and if you haven't tasted Indo-Chinese food yet, you are surely missing something.
So it was decided, its Vegetable Manchurian, Vegetable Noodles, Falafel and Scrambled Eggs!
I am a vegetarian, and I have been one for over 6 to 7 years now. The reasons for that well, that would take up too much space and time and would most definitely deviate from the topic at hand, so maybe later! Despite me being a vegan, I have no issues with people having their meat. chicken, fish or eggs and that is precisely the very reason I decided to add Scrambled Eggs to my Lunch menu. Why deprive my poor siblings just because I don't eat non veg, right? :)
One of the most popular Indian Chinese recipes - The Vegetarian Manchurian - It's a soy-sauce based gravy thickened with corn flour, and has vegetable dumplings added to it to give extra flavor. This recipe is courtesy http://www.indianfoodforever.com/, this site isn't for people who are trying their hand at cooking for the very first time, since they only venture to give out the recipe and the instructions in a casual upper hand sort of way, they don't give step by step instructions and you will have to use your own imagination at certain places. But nevertheless, this is the first site that pops up when you do a quick Google search and I am pretty content with their recipes and the quality of the Dishes that has come out of it.
Coming to Vegetable Manchurian, Manchuria, is a historical region of republic of China, that has seen the rise and fall of several dynasties, including an invasion by the great warrior Gengiz Khan. The recipe for Manchurian, as you can see, derives its name from the native region of Manchuria, where it originated. Over years, the traditional recipe evolved to mimic the current fusion version, where Indian and Chinese spices come together to constitute a lip-smacking main course recipe that will woo your hearts and your palate!
A quick stop over at the grocery with my Mum and brother, my ever so helpful sister happily obliging to help me in the kitchen, my Blackberry opened out to the Recipe page, and my mum floating around in the background, with all her senses sharp so as not to miss out an calls of HELP, I was ready to go! :D
We decided to start of making the Vegetarian Manchurian Gravy...
Ingredients
Manchurian Balls
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
2 cups carrot , grated
7 tbsp corn flour
3 to 4 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 slit green chili , finely chopped
salt - to taste
oil for deep-frying
Manchurian Sauce
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp finely chopped green chilies
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 cup clear water, though a cup of Vegetable stock can also be used
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn flour mixed with 1 cup of water
2 pinches of sugar
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Method
For the vegetable balls
Combine the cabbage, carrots, corn flour, garlic, green chili, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well. Shape spoonfuls of the mixture into small balls. If you find it difficult to form balls, you can CALL your MUM, like I did, or PRAY, or rather just sprinkle a little water to bind the mixture. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. Drain and keep aside.
For the sauce
Heat the oil in a frying pan on a high flame. Add the garlic, green chilies and ginger and stir fry over a high flame for a few seconds. Add water, soya sauce, corn flour paste, sugar and salt and simmer for a few minutes.
Just before serving, put the vegetable balls in the sauce and bring to a boil. transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with some chopped coriander leaves!
Preparation time - 30 Minutes
Once the Manchurian was tackled and set aside, Me and My sister moved on to the Vegetable Noodles... this is my own recipe. It's easy, gentle on the taste buds and definitely filling!
Ingredients
500 gms of Noodles or you could like me use 5 packets of Maggie Noodles!
Soy Sauce - 34 tbsp
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
3 tsp finely chopped Coriander leaves
1 Onion cut into long pieces
2 cups finely chopped capsicum
2 cups carrot , grated
2 cups spring onions finely chopped
Pepper & salt to taste
Chili sauce
Preparation:
Boil the Noodles, for about 2 minutes if you're using Maggie noodles or till when it is cooked well keep it a side, and let the water to drain. Heat a little oil in a pan and add ginger, garlic and fry for a while. Add the soy sauce, salt and chili sauce to the mixture and sauté for a while and then add the onions, carrots, capsicum and keep on a low flame and once the color starts changing an bit add the spring onions and sauté for about a minute and then Add the drained noodles to the mixture and mix well. Lastly, I used the stock that they give along with the Maggie two minute noodles in warm water, mixed it well and poured it all over the Noodles to give it a final flavoring. The reason I didn't directly spread the powder is because it tends to form lumps if not dissolved well. Once all this is done, Garnish with coriander leaves.
Preparation time - 15 Minutes
Its fast, easy to cook and the next time you are in mood to eat something Chinese, or Indian or spicy, I suggest COOKING it rather than ORDERING! It hardly takes much time and trust me the feeling of eating something that you have created it something truly Different! And if you like the taste of soy, ginger, garlic, crisp vegetables and spicy food in general, you will love this fusion version of Manchurian and Noodles! Its great for a summer potluck, nice quiet lunch or dinner!
Btw it also great for using your time productively! :D Enjoy!
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