Gobi / Cauliflower Manchurian

Gobi manchurian is one of my most favorite vegetarian dishes. A big plate of gobi manchurian never fails to cheer me up. Street vendors usually add a generous helping of red food color to this dish which  greatly adds to it's visual appeal. In India, gobi manchurian is a Chinese dish. But you will not find it it in any Chinese restaurants in the U.S. You will, however find it in many Indian restaurants.

Making gobi manchurian at home can be a long process. So I usually save it for special occasions. This time I made this dish for a friend's b'day party. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients :
1 large cauliflower
1 cup maida (APF)
1/2 cup corn starch (corn flour)
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp chilli powder
salt
2 medium onions
8 to 10 garlic cloves
1 " piece ginger
1/2 capsicum
2 to 3 green chillies
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
3 tbsp red chilli sauce *
2 tsp vineger
Corriander leaves
Spring onions
Oil
Ghee (optional)

*I used Ching's red chilli sauce. I find that the best.

Method
Wash and chop cauliflower into bite-sized florets. In a large bowl, mix maida, corn starch, rice flour, ginger garlic paste and red chilli powder. (Adding rice flour to the batter makes the fried cauliflower a little crispy. The sauce will mellow it down. You can avoid the rice flour if you don't want the crispiness.)
Add salt and just enough water to form a paste (dosa batter consistency).The paste should be thick enough to coat the cauliflower floret. Also, it should be slightly salty and spicy, since it should accomodate the bland cauliflower.

Dip the florets in the batter and deep fry in small batches Transfer them onto a paper towel.

Chop finely, onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies and capsicum.

Heat oil in a separate pan. Add onion and saute till it turns translucent. Add garlic, ginger and green chillies and roast some more. Add capsicum and fry well till it is cooked.To this add the soy sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar and red chilli sauce (Keep tasting as you add. Since you are adding red chilli powder to the cauliflower and also the green chillies, put only as much red chilli sauce as you'd like).

Add 2 tsp ghee (I skipped this). Mix well and let the sauces cook together for a couple of minutes.

Add the fried cauliflower into the sauce and mix gently, till the florets are coated with sauce, taking care not to break the florets. [ I find that adding sauce to cauliflower instead of other way round is a better option. To do this, arrange the fried cauliflower in a large pan and pour the sauce all over it. Mix gently and heat for sometime.]

Garnish with corriander leaves and spring onions.

Dig a fork in it and enjoy!

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