Monday 19 October 2009

Gobi/ cauliflower Manchurian

We are in the process of adding broccoli and cauli's to our daily food and i must say i hate broccoli and so does Ro but he tries hard to eat it and doesn't complain. We try to include it in our soups and its still raw and horrible. For me, its more like keeping the one and only broccoli floret till the last gulp and then try and chuck it without Ro looking. But he manages to catch me just before that and i have to chew it like a mincing machine and swallow it with great difficulty. Cauli's also are not that great in soups, but not as bad as broccoli so i manage to eat that. We had left over caulis from one of the soup sessions and i couldn't handle it raw again. So i tried out a Manchurian recipe which turned out great, although Ro was eating my head while i was preparing it saying, 'I'm hungry whats there to eat, il die of hunger etc.' So pardon the 'not so presentable pic' which i had to hurry through.
I mixed the recipe from mariasmenu and from another blog and came up with this. Also, Swarhas an interesting recipe for gobi Manchurian on her blog.

Cauliflower florets- 2 cups

To marinate:
Corn flower- 2 tbs
Maida- 1 tbs
pepper pwd- 1/2 tsp
Water- enough to make a loose paste
Salt- to taste
Oil- enough to fry

Bell pepper- 1, sliced into cubes
Onion- 1, thinly sliced
Green chillies- 2, slit lengthwise
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Soy sauce- 2 tbs
Tomato sauce- 1 tbs
Chilli sauce- 1 tbs (i didn't have any so i made a paste of 1/2 tsp of vinegar and 1 tsp of Kashmiri chilli pwd)
Pepper pwd- 1 tsp
Spring onions- to garnish
Salt- to taste

Boil the cauliflower florets for about 5 minutes, drain it completely and dry on kitchen towels. It must be completely moisture-free
Mix all ingredients in the 'to marinate' section with enough water to make a loose paste (not too watery though). Dip the florets in this mixture and deep fry in hot oil. Drain on paper towels.
In a frying pan, heat some oil (leftover from frying) and sautee the onions, bell pepper and green chillies till they become soft. To this add the Ggp and sautee well, till the raw smell goes. Next, add all the sauces, pepper and salt and mix well. In goes the fried florets and combine well with the sauces and masala. It must be well coated. Add some spring onions to enhance the taste, or just garnish it when you are ready to serve.

Notes: I don't like the florets completely coated with cornflower, so i don't over do it
Bell pepper is optional, but it brings an authentic Chinese taste to it, i think!
I marinated the florets in the refrigerator for over an hour which was quite accidental, but i guess it was for the best.
Fry the marinated florets in oil till crunchy brown and serve it with garlic mayo mixed with a bit of tomato ketchup and it serves as a great starter. Have tried it a lot of times.

3 comments:

Reflections said...

I dont really fancy making this at home coz...even if we are 10 mins late to eat it...it goes all soggy which takes the fun out of all tht elaborate preparation;-P

My Kitchen Antics said...

I completely agree....

the blogger formerly known as sansmerci said...

the pic looks great.. gobi looks very yummy and appetizing :)