Vegetable Manchurian with Hakka Noodles

Mixed vegetable dumplings in a tangy Indo-Chinese sauce served with noodles

Serves 4-5 people

Ingredients:

For Dumplings

200g cabbage (grated)

200g carrots (grated)

50g spring onions (chopped)

4-5 green chillis (finely chopped use according to your heat preference)

Salt to taste

1 tsp ajinomoto (flavour enhancer/monosodium glutamate)

2 tsp garlic crushed

1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes

1 tbsp soya sauce

3 tbsp cornflour

3 tbsp plain flour

1egg

Oil for deep frying

For the sauce

2 tsp garlic (finely chopped)

8-10 spring onions (chop and separate the greens and whites)

2 tsp crushed green chillies (variate the quantity according to your spice preference)

3 tbsp sesame oil (best for Indo-Chinese dishes or use any other oil if not available)

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp ajinomoto

1 tsp soya sauce

1 tbsp chilli garlic sauce ( optional)

½ tsp vinegar

Salt to taste

1 tbsp cornflour (dissolve in ¼ cup water)

Hakka Noodles

200g mixed colour peppers or any colour (sliced)

200g carrots (cut into juliennes)

150g cabbage (sliced)

1 medium size red onion (sliced)

350g medium egg noodles

1/2cup cooking oil

Salt

1 tsp black pepper powder

2 tsp ajinomoto (flavour enhancer/monosodium glutamate)

3 tbsp light soya sauce (use half the quantity if using dark soya sauce)

Method

For dumplings

Mix in all the ingredients except the oil and make a batter. The vegetables will release some moisture when mixing with hands which will be enough to bind the ingredients together to make dumplings. No extra water is needed. Make round dumplings with the batter.

Heat oil in a deep-frying pan. Fry the dumplings on medium flame for 4-5 minutes or until they are golden from the top. Keep stirring them gently occasionally. Set aside.

For the sauce

In a wok, heat oil and add sesame seeds. Saute garlic and the white part of spring onions and crushed green chillies. Keep the flame high and add soya sauce, ajinomto, vinegar, salt and chilli garlic sauce.

Add 1 cup water and the dissolved cornflour. Simmer for a minute or two. Keep stirring for a minute or two. The sauce will thicken, switch the flame off.

Add the fried dumplings and the green part of the spring onions to the sauce only at the time of serving. They have a tendency to absorb the moisture in the dish and will become soggy.

This recipe will give you a sauce with a semi dry silky consistency. You can add more water and dissolved cornflour according to the required consistency.

Hakka noodles

In a pot, boil approximately 4 cups of water with a tsp of salt. Once the water starts boiling add noodles. It should take about 5-8 minutes for the noodles to be soft. Once they are soft, switch off the gas and drain the water. Immediately rinse with cold water. Let it sit in the sieve for a while, grease it with some oil. This process will keep the noodles fresh and prevent them from sticking to each other.

In a wok, heat oil and add all the vegetables, fry them on high flame constantly mixing them. Do not fry vegetables on low or medium heat as they will release water and become soggy. We don’t want to fully soften the vegetable, so fry them for about 4-5 minutes on high flame. We want the vegetables to be crunchy.

Add boiled noodles with soya sauce, salt, pepper and ajinomoto. Mix it all together nicely. When mixing, keep the flame to medium.