Quick and Easy Soya Manchurian

Soya Manchurian is an Indo-Chinese recipe which is quirky and to be honest, new for me. I hadn't really heard of soya manchurian until my mother told me about it. The only manchurian I have heard about is Gobi manchurian.

At first, I was a little sceptical about it because I had never had deep fried soya chunks before. I thought they would take on a rubbery texture and not taste good. But I was surprised when it was still soft and fluffy on the inside while being crispy on the outside. you know what? You could stop right after frying them and even enjoy them as soya nuggets. But go ahead and give the manchurian a chance to shine too, it won't let you down I am sure.  

The soya chunks become a little soggy after about 20 minutes, so you have to be quick while making the sauce/gravy. It is a pretty dry dish so I would classify this as a starter rather than a main.
Side story: I thought it wouldn't be dry and I could serve it with roti, turned out I couldn't even make it go down my throat. 😞

So don't make that mistake but do try the recipe for your hunger cravings because it is lip-smacking! It is Chinese fast food! what more reason does one need to try out a new recipe??

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 cup soya chunks, cooked as per box instructions

1 tbsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp black pepper powder

3 tbsp cornflour

3 tbsp rice flour/all-purpose flour
salt as per taste
3 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar

1 medium capsicum(chopped into 1-inch squares)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onions, roughly chopped into the same size as capsicums

toasted sesame seeds

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, take the cooked soya chunks. Squeeze them well so that they can absorb the spices blend and threw the water away.
2. Add red chilli powder, salt, black pepper powder, coriander powder and black pepper powder and mix well. Make sure its a large bowl so you can toss the chunks to coat them well. After the spices are mixed well, add the cornflour and rice flour/all-purpose flour and shake shake shake! a.k.a, mix well.
3. Meanwhile, heat a pot with some oil enough for deep frying. Once the oil is hot enough, fry the soya chunks in 2 batches so they don't stick to each other. Fry them for 3-4 minutes until they become golden brown. In case you are confused between colours or colour-blind when it comes to cooking, the soya chunks should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside(I know I sound like a commercial).
4. Once done, take them out of the oil and set aside.
5. In a separate pan(big enough to toss fry the chunks and some veggies), add 3 tablespoons of oil and let it heat up a little. Then add your ginger, garlic and onions and fry them for 2-3 minutes on high flame(so that it doesn't lose too much water but gets a crisp exterior).
6. After frying the onions for some time, add the tomato sauce, chilli sauce, soy sauce and vinegar and stir well.
7. You are almost done. Just add the fried soya chunks and mix well to coat each chunk with the sauce. You can vary the quantity of chilli and tomato sauce according to your taste.
8. ta-daaaa! You are done with your Manchurian! Plate it beautifully, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top like the salt bae, click a pic to post on social media and enjoy!!!

Do try the recipe and let me know how your dish turned out in the comments! Tag @meghana_makes on Instagram to let me know how it turned out!

~Meghana