Today is day 12 of Prime Minster Modi’s 21 day lockdown of India to combat the spread of the Novel Coronavirus
I ran out of fresh vegetable yesterday, using up my last little head of cabbage and a few potatoes that I had purchased in anticipation of the lockdown.
I set some mung beans to sprouting yesterday – they always make a good “fresh” dish, then turned my attention to what I had stocked away in the pantry
Manchurian generally denotes a dish in India consisting of a variety of meats or paneer with vegetables in a spicy brown sauce. It is basically a creation of Chinese restaurants in India, and bears little resemblance to traditional Manchu cuisine or Chinese cuisine.
The person who invented Chicken Manchurian is Nelson Wang, who created the dish in 1975 when he was asked to “make something not on the menu”, when catering at the Cricket Club of India.
Manchurian Soya Chunks
Equipment
- Kadai pan,
Ingredients
Prepare the Soya Chunks
- 1 cup Soy Chunks
- 1 tbsp Corn flower
- 1/2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp Fresh ground pink Himalayan salt
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chili powder
Pan Fry the Soya Chunks
- 3 tbsp Sunflower oil organic
Prepare the Manchurian Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sunflower oil Organic
- 2 tsp Ginger paste Use fresh grated if you have it.
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Ketchup Indian ketchup has not onion and no garlic
- 1 tsp Apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Sugar Or other sweetener
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
- 3/4 tsp Corn starch As my grandma would say, a heapin' spoonful
- 1/2 cup Vegetable broth
Instructions
Prepare Soya Chunks
- Soak soya chunks in boiling water for 5 – 10 minutes until soft.
- Drain the chunks, rinse with cool water and squeeze out excess water.
- Place squeeze dried chunks in a bowl, mix in the corn starch, salt, ppeper and Kashmiri red chili powder and set aside to marinate.
Mix the Soy Sauce
- In a small bowl, mix together the ginger, soya sauce, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, sugar and Kashmiri red chili powder. Set aside.
- Mix together the vegetable stock and corn starch.
Cook the Manchurain Soya Chunks
- Add oil or ghee to the kadai pan and stir fry the coated soya chunks until browned on the outside, about 2 – 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add a little more oil if necessary to the kadai pan, then add the soya sauce mixture, stirring to mix and glaze the pan.
- While continuously stirring, slowly add the vegetable broth/corn starch mixture. Stirring and heating until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Once the mixture has thickened, add the browned soya chunks. Mix well, stirring to heat.
- Serve with rice.
Anybody do the Ascension Meditation this morning? I was so happy it happened at 8:15 am in India. What a great time slot we got! Lol! Some people had to get up at 2:45 in the morning to participate in the global meditation.