Vegetable Manchurian with home made tomato sauce

I was never a big fan of watching youtube videos but the last couple of covid years changed all that. While some people went out and bought puppies I became a YouTube addict. It started with watching videos on permaculture and farming and which led to YouTube recommending me similar videos which is how I chanced upon this channel called "Crazy for Indian Food" and saw this recipe for Vegetable Manchurian. It was the time of the year when I had some freshly harvested cabbage and tomatoes that I had frozen from the summer. This is the best manchurian I ever tasted. I am not really fond of the quantity of corn flour that is usually added to the manchurian. In this recipe a combination of corn and wheat flour were used.

Good quality tomatoes are require to male the all purpose tomato sauce, which is used both in the manchurian and the fried rice. I used a combination of cabbage and some multicolored carrots that I had picked up at the store. You can add any vegetables that can be shredded and do not end up being too soggy.

For a full meal, the same manchurian sauce can be used to make fried rice. Precook the rice and mix it with the sauce.
Now on to the recipe in pictures for the manchurian.

Shred the cabbage and carrots. Add wheat flour, salt. pepper and corn starch.
Mix in the flour with just the moisture present in the vegetables. Do not add extra water.
Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the vegetable balls in batches.
In a wok add oil and when hot add onions and chopped jalapeno, saute and add the cabbage. Once the cabbage is softened add the tomato sauce.
Add in the vegetable balls and mix into the sauce.

While machurian is the star of the recipe, the tomato sauce has an equally important role to play in it. Like mentioned earlier the quality and the ripeness of the tomatoes matters much. I tend to make fried food during winter and fresh tomatoes are hard to find but the tomatoes I had frozen during the summer adequately serves the purpose. While it is not fresh of the vine tomatoes, it still locks in the taste :)

Vegetable Manchurian with home made tomato sauce
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:50 minutes
Ingredients
For the sauce

1. 10-15 medium sized ripe tomatoes
2. 1/4 cup of finely chopped onions
3. 2 tsp of grated ginger
4. 1 1/2 tbsp of finely chopped garlic
5. 4 Jalapeno chilies (or any medium spice green chilies)
6. salt to taste
7. 2-3 tsp of oil

For the Manchurian

1. 4 cups of shredded cabbage + 1/2 cup of cabbage
2. 1 cup of shredded carrots (or any other vegetable of choice like broccoli or cauliflower)
3. 1/2 cup of thinly sliced onions
4. 1/4 cup of corn flour
5. 1/3 - 1/2 cup of wheat flour
6. salt to taste
7. 3-4 tsp of pepper powder or to taste

Method

For the sauce
1. In a wok/kadai/wide mouthed pan add 2 tsp of oil and when hot add the chopped onions and chopped jalapenos and when it becomes translucent add the ginger and garlic and saute for a minute more.
2. Now add in the tomatoes and continue till it reduces to a fairly thick consistency.
3. Add salt and pepper powder and mix it in. Taste and add more if needed.

For the Manchurian

1. Set a wide mouthed pan with oil for deep frying.
2. Add the shredded cabbage, carrot, pepper powder, salt, corn flour and wheat flour and mix it well with the tip of the fingers so the flour is evenly coated.
3. Make small round balls, fry them in batches and set them aside.
4. In a wide mouthed pan, add oil and when hot add the thinly sliced onions and when translucent add saute till the cabbage becomes soft.
5. Add 1/4 cup or required amount of the sauce and the rquired number of the fried manchurian balls and mix in them well.

For the Fried Rice

1. In an instant pot or pressure cooker, cook rice with a 2 tsp of oil and salt. Once cooked fluff with a fork and set aside.
2. To this add the sauce and mix it in gently.
3. Add some roasted vegetables on top. I added some roasted broccoli.

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