Gobhi Manchurian
Gobhi manchurian is one of my favorite Indo-Chinese dishes. It features fried battered cauliflower with a spicy tomato sauce that bridges Indian cuisine and Chinese cuisine. It's such a delicious way to eat more plants!
Ingredients
Battered Cauliflower
- 1 medium cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
- avocado oil or another neutral oil for frying
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ tsp red chili powder *optional: add ½ tsp kashmiri lal for extra vibrancy
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup water, added as needed
- ½ tsp black pepper
For the Sauce
- 1 tbsp avocado oil or another neutral oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 green chilis, minced *add 3 if you like things very spicy
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- ½ red onion, finely chopped *sub with scallion whites
- ¼ cup scallion whites
- ¼ cup tomato paste (from 1 tomato) **sub with 2 tbsp ketchup
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce + more if needed
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ cup water + more if you want a greater volume of sauce
- salt to taste
- scallion greens for garnishing
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients for the cauliflower batter in a bowl: all-purpose flour, cornstarch, red chili powder, kashmiri lal (optional), black pepper, and sea salt. Add water and stir to form a thick batter. Coat the cauliflower florets in the batter.
- To fry the cauliflower, heat a pot over medium heat with enough oil for the florets to fry. Fry the cauliflower in batches. I fried 2 batches of cauliflower and air-fried 1 batch. Turn the florets so all sides get crisp and brown. Take the fried cauliflower out and place on a plate lined with a napkin or paper towel.If air frying, place the battered florets onto parchment paper and air fry for 10-12 minutes at 400 F. I haven't tried baking in the oven, but it should take about twice as long.
- Heat a pan or wok over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp avocado oil. When the oil is hot, add garlic, green chiiis, and ginger. Stir frequently for 2 minutes. Add red onions and scallion whites. Stir for about 4 minutes. (If you want to add a green bell pepper, you would add it now and proceed with the next step when the bell peppers are mostly cooked.)
- Add tomato paste and let the tomato juices evaporate before adding ground coriander and black pepper. Stir the spices into the tomato mixture. Add chili garlic sauce and soy sauce.
- Make the cornstarch slurry by mixing 1 tbsp cornstarch and ½ cup water in a small bowl. Add the cornstarch slurry and stir frequently until you have a thick sauce. Taste and add more soy sauce or salt if needed.
- Toss the fried cauliflower in. Stir until the sauce adheres to the cauliflower. Garnish with scallions and serve immediately with rice or noodles.
Notes
*I added 3 green chilis and oh boy, it sure was spicy.
**Indo-Chinese cuisine typically involves ketchup for some reason. Based on what I could find online, 2 tablespoons of ketchup should work well.