The confident statement that arises from me while working in any kitchen is that I am an expert in making manchurian dishes. Be it Gobi or Mushrooms, I seldom flaw and perfect it blindfolded :)
Mushroom Manchurian, dry (To serve 4)
Button mushrooms,15-20 (I used a 200gm packet)
For the batter:
3/4 cup maida
1/4 cup cornflour
A green chilly, crushed or 2 tsps of green chilly sauce or 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
2 shallots/small onions-crushed
A tsp of minced garlic
Salt, to taste
Water, to make a thick batter
Oil- to deep fry
Final Mix up:
2 tbsp- Oil
A tbsp of ginger + garlic, julienned (or paste)
A green bell pepper- cut into 1/2 inch squares
A big onion - cut into 1/2 inch squares
2 tbsp- dark soy sauce (I used Ching's secret)
1 tbsp- green chilly sauce ( I used Weikfields)
1/2 tsp red chilly powder or 2 red chillies broken into 3 pcs each
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
Salt- to taste (be careful, the sauces contain salt)
Scallions- to garnish
Method:
1. Wash and slice the mushrooms thin and long.
2. Prepare the batter with the ingredients listed, thick, which resembles dosa/idly batter, in a wide vessel.
3. Dump the sliced mushrooms into the batter and mix well. Drop small bite sized pieces into hot oil and deep fry until browned, as batches. Keep aside.
4. Now for the mixing up part; in a broad and wide wok, heat 2 tbsp oil and sauté the sliced ginger-garlic,(broken red chillies if you substitute red chilly powder), onion and capsicum in that order and sauté for a couple of minute. The onions and bell pepper should retain its crispiness and do not let them turn brown.They need to be just translucent.
5. Now add the red chilly powder(if you omit red chilly bits), soy and chilly sauces along with white pepper powder in high flame and mix continuously for a few seconds.
I took off the dish from the stove at this stage after adding the fried mushrooms and mixing it up well together allowing the sauces and spices to seep in and did not add any water as I needed the dry version. I served hot garnished with scallions (spring onion greens).
If you prefer a semi dry version;
6. Add ½ cup of water at the end of stage 5 above along with the fried and cooled mushroom chunks.
7. Sauté again for 3-4 minutes to absorb excess water of any and switch off fire when it is semi dry/ saucy consistency has reached. Let the pieces be 'a li'l crisp' and not soggy at this stage.Garnish with scallions and serve hot with Indochinese fried rice or noodles.
If you like the gravy version of the same, add some more water, say 1/2 - 3/4 cup more and make it thick by adding a tspful cornflour while you bring it to boil. Simmer for a few minutes and serve hot. Again, see to it that you add a little extra amounts of the sauces and spices as the water dilutes the final taste of the gravy version.
Plagiarism
While composing the post it reminded me of this site (pls dont click on the link giving them more hits, the screen shot is just below) which lifted my Gobi manchurian picture without permission and advertised in the name of Mushroom manchurian in theirs!! :)
I had mailed them but no response until now nor they removed my picture.
As soon as I post this, I am thinking of mailing them to lift any of the pictures from here as a fresh substitution so that they play fair at least with their customers ;)
Well, these guys, Andhra Corner @ Onetech (pls dont click on the link giving them more hits, the screen shot is just below) has also lifted the same picture and named Gobi Manchurian...(thankfully not fooling their readers with the image part but with editing the recipe a bit). I have yet to write to them but have no hope that they would remove the picture and do some justice.
My original post of Gobi Manchurian which I prepared for Arusuvai Season-1
Coming back to the recipe of Mushroom Munchurian, this seems to be complicated, but believe me, it's simple. Even if the measurements of sauces or ingredients get altered a little, the final outcome will always be great! I love this dry version the best as it has the exact 'restaurant style' taste of crispy mushrooms, with the added traditional blackish hue, soaked in the flavour of the rich dark soy!
Mushroom manchurian is my fav...anytime of the day. Ur version sounds good too
ReplyDeleteI am not a big Mushroom fan,but ever since I saw the image on Flickr,I've been drooling at it.Sounds like a must-try!!
ReplyDeleteWow...its my fav...looks yummy...
ReplyDeleteJust made Gobi manchurian on Friday for our Indo- Chinese dinner. It's one thing that even I have perfected, like you :)
ReplyDeleteI love the colour of your Mushroom Manchurian!
Spoke to your Angel yesterday :)
Wow, delicious! I just bought some portobello's yesterday, this would be perfect :)
ReplyDeleteHow can they cheat? shameful act from both the parties. But tell me dear how did you get to know about the stealing ?
ReplyDeleteMushroom manchurian looks very tempting
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
Mushroom manchurians looks simply inviting and droolworthy..
ReplyDeleteMouthwatering bowl of mushrooms!
ReplyDeleteThis dish looks mouth-watering!
ReplyDeleteThese kind of websites will never stop plagiarising. Hope they are at least shamed into removing the pictures!
You will be on my speed dial forever.. love the manchurian..looks abs delicious :)))
ReplyDeletedelicious looking manchurians .I have never tried anything with mushroms except soup.This makes me tempting
ReplyDeleteLooks absolutely perfect !!!
ReplyDeleteMushroom Manchurian looks so tasty. First time on your blog and following it.
ReplyDeleteRead about the two copied incidents and it is so shameful on their part to do this.
I just noticed that you have not been putting your blog name on the pictures. This can stop people from copying them.
ReplyDeleteThe Manchurian looks so tempting! Hope the site pays heed to your issues and do the needful. Bets wishes, Bharthy.
ReplyDeleteLite Bite
Manchurain looks very divine.. love the color.. hope ur issues r resolved!!
ReplyDeleteCheers!!
looks delicious bharathy...one of my neighnours is a biig fan of your blog.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful click on mushroom manchurian,wud luv to try this recipe...i am against of plagiarism,hope they remove ur pics from their sites, soon...
ReplyDeletehi...have been looking for a gud manchurian recipe n this turned out to be "the best"....tried it n everybody loved it at home...thanx a lot...
ReplyDeleteit is very nice and diclicous to eat
ReplyDeleteHi...
ReplyDeleteI am just a beginner in cooking...
tried out your mushroom manchurian recipe.. came out really well..!!!!
everyone in my family like it!!!
Thank you for the beautiful recipe..
will surely try all the other recipes in ur blog very soon!!!
I think u can add 1/2 tsp of rice powder for cripiness of the mushroom
ReplyDelete