Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Two Cultures and Two Kinds of Dumplings

Veg Chinese Manchurian


Veg Manchurian, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.
Now before I give the recipe there is one thing that I would like to tell you all. This Manchurian is a total indianised version of the real Chinese dish. I am sure no one in China has ever eaten this unless they have come to one of the indian metropoles and visited a road-side chinese stall . These chinese stalls (at least the ones I have seen in Pune) have really fantastic names like Kung Fu Chinese , Wild Dragon Chinese or something like Great China Darbar. Now why a chinese eatery has to be called a Darbar is beyond me. To add to the authentic feel of the eatery the owner of the joint hires all chinky eyed waiters who resemble the chinese but are probably from Assam or Mizoram come to the big cities in search of work. But the fact remains that most of these joints serve great tasting food. It is spicy and can be ordered with as much chilly as you like.
And hereI have tried to capture all those flavours. I made this for a lunch get- together which 7 of us have once every week . Its a pot-luck affair where all of us decide the kind of food we would like to eat and each of us brings along one dish.This week the favoured food was Desi Chinese. So I made this Veg Manchurian
Ingredients: For the Dumplings: 1cup shredded cabbage, 1 cup grated carrots, 1 large onion, 4 to 5 mushrooms finely chopped, 2 tspn salt, 2 cloves of garlic crushed, Cornflour as per requirement.Oil for frying.
For the Sauce: 3 cups water , 1 tblspn brown vinegar, 1tblspn Soysauce, 2 tblspn tomato Sauce, 4 green chillies cut into very small pieces, 1 inch ginger chopped, 3 to 4 cloves garlic chopped, 2 tblspns Cornflour to thicken the sauce, half a green pepper cut into long strips, 1 tspn sugar and salt to taste 2 to 3 spring onions finely chopped for garnishing.
Procedure:
For the Dumplings:
Mix the carrots, cabbage , mushrooms and onions in a bowl. Add to this the salt, mix well and leave this mixture for 1/2 an hour. After about half an hour drain out the water that is formed due to the salt. Add cornflour to this moist mixture just so that you can shape the mixture into ball with your hand.Have hot oil ready in a wok and fry these balls on a medium heat . These can be made one day in advance and stored in a tight container in the fridge.
For the Sauce: In a little oil saute the chillies and he grenn pepper for a feww mins. Then add the ginger and garlic and saute further for a few mins. Add to this the sauces, vinegar, sugar and salt. Immediately add the water and bring to a boil. when the water begins to boil lower the heat to a simmer and add cornflour mixed in a little amount of water. The sauce will thicken a little. Do not thicken the sauce too much when it is hot as it thickens even more once it begins to cool . Taste the sause and add more sauces or vinegar if needed.Before serving add the cumplings to the hot sauce and garnish with chopped spring onions. Serve with Chinese Fried Rice or Noodles
Now after typing so much I think I'll do the next recipe tomorrow. Blogging takes more time and energy than actual cooking.

Veg Tawa Fry with Methi Muthia

Will share both the recipes very soon.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Anupama

Do send the recipes soon.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Both look s good, Anupama! Can't wait to see the recipes! :)

Anonymous said...

Stunning dishes and pics too, Anupama! Methi Muthias are absolutely gorgeous.Hope I don't miss the recipes while I am gone!

Happy Thanksgiving! Did you remember to thank everybody who helps you everyday?:)

Viji said...

Very nice, anything with veggies, I can definitely try. Tks for sharing. Viji

Anonymous said...

Bring them on soon Anupama..... My mouth is watering!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Anupama

I also make manchuria with cabbage. But next time will add the other veggies suggested by you. Yummy and mouth watering.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anupama, The dumplings look so good and your curry yummy yummy.
ya i know, blogging a recipe takes more energy than actually cooking it.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you Anupama.... it takes hell of a lot time.....

Let me share a secret with you, which I came to know after comign to singapore...... Singapore is a chinese country and once I came here, I was so thrilled that I would get yo eat yummy chinese food...... But believe me.... chinese food is yummy only when its indian chinese. The authentic chinese food is totally bland..... and do you know, there is no dish like veg manchurian in chinese LOL... I wonder how our indian cooks came up with this kind of a dish..... None the less, manchurian is one of my fav dish as well....... Great recipe!!!! (I hope the chinese learn how to make this :P)

Anonymous said...

First time to your blog Anupama and I must say it's great. Loved those pics
And your opening para is great.
I so miss the Indian Chinese, I bet the Chinese would switch once they tasted ours

Anonymous said...

You're right Anupama, Indian Chinese is in a league of its own, there is nothing like it and though it is not authentic chinese, if it tastes so good, how can we stop loving it!
Both of your dishes look so good, can't wait for the recipes!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anupama,
Wonderful dishes...potlucks are always aa great idea.. fun n food..the combo can never go wrong :-).
Indo-chinese is surely a wonderful mix of the two cuisines. Your pics are soo lovely and I am tempted to make some of this for dinner tonight :-) Waiting for the second recipe :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Anupama,
New information,till few days back i thought it has origin from chinese only.Then came to know through my sister....

This is indianlised chinese dish,we don't get this in pure chinese stalls...

I used to prepare with cauliflower only,but had once with cabbage.One of my marathi friend prepare for us.

Excellent pictures and receipe too.

Anupama said...

Thanx everyone for your appreciation. I'll post the Muthia recipe today. I have been kind of tied down by other things recently. So the delay.

Anonymous said...

hi anupama

great to see the recipe here. i will try it this weekend.

meera

Nidhi said...

Please share them soon, these pictures are making my mouth watery. :)

Happy Holidays.

Cheers, Nidhi.

Nidhi said...

Oh! didn't realise, the recipe is aready here.

Thanks.

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