Big Cooking Competition - Create The Best vegetarian Dish - Manchurian and Bhindi masala

Veg Manchurian and Bhindi masala

Hello everyone
I hope you are safe and healthy. I am really excited about this competition. I prepared 2 dishes.

let's start
Veg Manchurian is a tasty Indo-Chinese dish of fried veggie balls in a spicy, sweet, and tangy sauce. There are 2 popular variations of making veg Manchurian.

About this recipe
Veg Manchurian gravy recipe has a sauce or gravy in which the fried veggies balls are tossed and dunked.

The sauce has a mix of eclectic flavors and tastes sweet, savory, spicy, sour, and umami. The recipe is also vegan.

Manchurian in the Indian lingo is a term for fried veggies or fried meat (fish or prawns or chicken) in this spicy-umami sauce.

You can also call the sauce Manchurian sauce. Manchurian and many other Indian Chinese recipes were an invention of the Chinese community living in Kolkata.

This Chinese style of cooking was largely adapted to suit the Indian palate and also to have more vegetarian options in the cuisine.

I love Indo-Chinese food. So much was my love for making Chinese food at home that in my teens I would make three of my favorite Indo-Chinese recipes often – Chilli Paneer, Corn Soup, and Vegetable Manchurian.

The Manchurian recipe presented here is a tried and tested recipe, like all my recipes. the result was a yummy veg Manchurian that was excellent with plain steamed rice.

Step-by-Step Guide
How to make veg Manchurian gravy
For ease of reading, I have divided this post into 3 main parts.

Step 1 – making veg Manchurian balls
Step 2 – frying veg Manchurian balls
Step 3 – making Manchurian gravy or sauce
Let's start with step 1 – Making vegetable balls

Making Vegetable Balls
Take the finely chopped or grated veggies in a bowl.

Then add the dry ingredients – corn starch, all-purpose flour (maida), black pepper, and salt.

Mix and gather the whole mixture together.

Then kind of mix and knead so that the veggies leave the water and you get a dough-like mixture. But do not knead like that a bread or roti dough. Gluten strands can form that will give a dense chewy texture to the fried veggie balls.

So just mix very well and press so that the veggies release their juices.
Then take a small portion of the mixture in your hands.

Press and roll it in your palm and make a round veggie ball. You can spread some oil on your palms while making the vegetable balls.
Make all veggie balls this way and keep them aside.

Frying Veggie Balls

Heat oil for deep frying in a kadhai or pan.

Add a small piece of a ball to the hot oil. If the balls do not stick or settle down at the bottom of the pan but come up steadily the oil is ready for frying these veg Manchurian balls. If the balls break, then some more binding agent is required. So you can add 2 to 3 teaspoons of some more all-purpose flour (maida).

Gently place the balls in the hot oil. The oil has to be medium hot. Too much heat and the Manchurian balls will be browned from the top and uncooked from the inside. Less hot oil will make the balls absorb too much oil.

When cooked from one side, turn the balls with a slotted spoon.
Fry the balls till crisp and golden.

Remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and drain as much oil as possible.
Place the fried veg Manchurian balls on kitchen paper towels. For a low-fat version, you can cook the veggie balls in an apple-appam pan or æbleskiver pan.
Fry the veg Manchurian balls this way in batches and keep them aside.

Making Sauce Or Gravy

In a small bowl take the following three sauces – soy sauce, tomato ketchup, and red chili sauce.

Mix the sauces very well and keep them aside.

Heat 1 to 1.5 tablespoons oil in a pan or wok. Add the chopped spring onions, finely chopped ginger, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped green chilies, and finely chopped capsicum. Adding capsicum is optional.
Stir fry on medium flame till the onions turn translucent.

Now add the mixed sauces. Stir and mix very well.
Add 1 to 1.25 cups water. Let the mixture come to a boil.
mix very well so that there are no lumps.

Continue to stir and mix when the veg Manchurian gravy is cooking. Simmer till the sauce thickens and you see a glaze in it. There should be no raw taste of the cornflour in the sauce. Cooking sauce or gravy takes about 3 to 4 minutes on a medium flame. If the sauce is too thick, then you add some water.
When the veg Manchurian sauce thickens, add ½ teaspoon black pepper powder.

Season with a bit of salt. Do keep in mind that the soy sauce, chili sauce, and tomato ketchup already has salt in them. So add less salt and as per your taste preferences.
Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar. Mix very well.

Then add the fried veg Manchurian balls. Also, add 1 teaspoon of Rice vinegar or regular vinegar, or apple cider vinegar.
Gently stir and coat the veg Manchurian balls in the gravy.
Switch off the flame add chopped spring onion greens.
Serve veg Manchurian hot garnished.

Bhindi masala
Preparation
Rinse the bhindi (okra) well in water.
Dry them on a large plate on their own or wipe them with a kitchen towel.
Remove the base and stalk while chopping them. Chop into 1 or 2-inch pieces.
Also, chop onions and tomatoes. Keep aside.
Make a paste of ginger and garlic in mortar-pestle and keep aside.
Sautéing Bhindi

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a kadhai (wok) or pan.
Add the chopped bhindi and sauté stirring often till they are completely cooked. You will have to keep an eye on them and stir in between many times.
Taste the sautéed okra and if the crunchiness is not there and the bhindi has become soft, it means they are cooked. Keep the sautéed bhindi aside.

Sautéing Onions, Tomatoes, Spices
All the oil will be used up. So add 1 tbsp oil to the same pan.
Add chopped onions and fry till they become translucent.
Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for ½ minute or till the raw aroma of the ginger-garlic disappears.
Add the chopped tomatoes and saute till the tomatoes become soft and mushy.
If the tomato mixture becomes too dry and starts sticking to the pan, then add about ¼ cup water. Mix well and continue to cook.

All the above cooking is done in an open pan and you don’t need to cover the pan with the lid.
Add all the dry spice powders one by one.
Mix well and saute for a few seconds.

Add the sautéed bhindi, crushed Kasuri methi & salt also mix so that the onion-tomato masala coats the okra well.
Cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in between.

Then switch off the flame and add chopped coriander leaves. Mix again.
Serve bhindi masala hot or warm garnished with a few coriander leaves.

I feel challenged to join this competition held by @steemitwarrior and thank you for creating this competition.
I hope @steemitwarrior you support me.

Thank you
by @medytalents