Easier, Healthier, Cauliflower or Chicken Manchurian
An iconic dish in the Indo-Chinese tradition is Cauliflower Manchurian. Made with chicken, it is chicken manchurian. Essentially deep batter coated morsels dunked in a garlicy, spicy sauce. How can you go wrong? I have made my share of this dish, enjoyed eating quite a few pieces of the crisp melt in your mouth batter coated cauliflower.
Today, I recaptured that dish, with a lot less frying and fuss. A sheet pan and the instant pot was involved. Overall, turned out quite well. A lot less clean up, somewhat less fuss and frying pretty good results. My kind of recipe makeover.
I have loads of scallions on my refrigerator. Not sure why, cannot remember what I was planning to make with them.
My Cauliflower Manchurian Story
So, some Asian style dishes will be coming your way. I am quite tied up for a long weekend. But often that is the way life is. Today, I had a gaggle of children in our house. All revved up and bracing for an international competition. I made this Manchurian as a snack, it was much appreciated and promptly devoured. Well-fed happy campers. As always, I am happy that my experiment was successful.
A little more about Indo Chinese Flavors
It has been a good weekend of soulful cooking. I could go into a detailed description on Indo-Chinese cooking, but then you have already seen many posts on that. Telling you all about, Szechuan, Manchurian all done India style, such as this one, and this.
This weekend I did a wonderful, peaceful couple’s cooking class. I often feel the vibe of the students impact the quality and end results of the food I cook. What do you think? Do you believe that the atmosphere around you influences your cooking? Spring is on its way; I can feel it in the sunshine. The brightness of the afternoons. The weather has been just lovely this weekend.
Deepta finished her robotics season. Not a huge success, but not a failure either. She is tired and taking the weekend to revive her spirits. Together we are perfecting a recipe that is still evolving. Another, sure fire successful recipe. But one recipe at a time, so today let us do the Manchurian.
Now, the instant pot sauce that I made turned out just fine without any cornstarch or additional thickener. One less step to worry about. For the chicken version, I used ground chicken, it seemed to work well. In particular, since I baked it.
If you liked the idea of the Manchurian you can give this Broccoli Manchurian a try and if you are looking for some cauliflower recipes check out this cauliflower with fenugreek.
If you like this recipe and want more ideas, do join my Indian Instant Pot Facebook group and Legume Love Group. Of course, Instant Indian is ready for order, joining its siblings The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles and Spices and Seasons.
Do not forget to get social with me, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Youtube.
A lighter and healthier take on the Indo-Chinese classic, cauliflower or chicken manchurian.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped white onion or scallion whites
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
- 1 cup tomato sauce (canned or jarred)
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- enough ice cold water to make a thick batter
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into medium sized floreets or 1 pound ground chickem or a mixture of both.
- 1/4 cup canolla or vegetable oil plus extra for greasing.
- To garnish
- Chopped scallion
- Chopped cilantro
- Chopped green chilies (Optional)
Instructions
- Turn the instant pot onto saute mode.and heat the oil for 2 minutes. Add in the garlic, ginger, and scallioon whites and onion and saute for 2 minutes on high.
- Add in the black pepper, red cayenne pepper, tomato sauce, soy sauce, cider vinegar, sugar and water and stir well.
- Set on 2 minutes of high pressure and allow for a natural release.
- While this is cooking, set the oven on to 450 degrees. Grease a sheet pan.
- Prepare the batter by mixing the egg, salt, cornstarch, all purpose flour with enough water to make a thick batter.
- If making the cauliflower, dip the cauliflower pieces and place in a single layer on the baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the cauliflower once halfway.
- If making the chicken, mix the chicken with 1/2 the batter, shape into balls and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, turning once half way.
- Remove the lid for the instant pot. Stir well. Add in the crisp cauliflower or chicken. Let it soak for a minute/
- Garnish with the chopped scallion, cilantro and green chilies.
- Serve as an appetizer or with rice as a main dish.
Notes
If you like this spicy you can increase the heat.
AsianFood
Asian food is fresh and very packed with flavor. I love trying out the different dishes that they have to offer! This is a pretty cool.
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Asian Foods Near Me
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