If you did a survey on favourite Indian-Chinese dishes, I think Manchurian would probably come out tops. The name Manchurian is an obvious reference to Chinese cuisine and I must say it is rather similar to a Gong Bao but not entirely! Apparently, the dish was invented in 1975 by a famous Chinese immigrant and restauranteur called Nelson Wong. Of course, his dish was made with chicken, and we are making the vegan version – mushroom Manchurian.
I generally love mushrooms, but I really don’t like canned champignons. Rubbery, tasteless, and weird-looking, ew! However, canned whole champignons have been on special so I’ve been finding a way to make them more palatable. Then I remembered the Manchurian that I used to love at the Indian restaurant near my old work. Deep-frying the champignons in batter really helps with the taste and texture as the hot oil forces all the excess soggy “juice” out of the mushrooms and only leaves the yums.
Once assembled, this mushroom Manchurian is bangin’! The mushrooms are firm and chewy. The sauce is sweet, salty, spicy and coats the mushroom batters nicely. The onions and bell peppers provide a nice contrasting crunch. It’s very more-ish and very good with rice!
Tips
- Make sure the oil is proper hot before frying the mushrooms or they will go rubbery.
- I used chopsticks to drop the mushrooms in one by one.
- When deep-frying, use a spatula to stir the oil around so they don’t stick together.
- I used sriracha as the chilli sauce, you use what you have on-hand, or tomato sauce for a non-spicy version.
- If doing non-spicy, use green bell peppers instead of green chillies.
Ingredients
- Batter
- Sauce
Instructions
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Mix the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl.
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Cut your mushrooms into half.
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Mix the batter and roll the mushrooms around in it until they are all well-covered. Add more water if needed, but it should be in a sticky coating.
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Heat two fingers depth of oil in a large and deep saucepan until very hot. Drop a small amount of batter into the oil, if it floats, the oil is hot enough. Carefully drop your mushrooms into the pan. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. I did this in two batches.
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Finely dice the ginger, garlic, and spring onion whites. Chop the onion and bell pepper into squares. Slice the chillies.
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Grab 2 tbsp of oil from the deep fry pan and cook the ginger, garlic, spring onions for about 2 minutes over medium heat.
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Add the onions, peppers, and chillies.
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Add the deep-fried mushrooms and the sauce, tossing to mix well.
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Serve hot with rice or naan or paratha!
