Chicken Manchurian

Ingredients

• Chicken (boneless) - 250 gms

For marinade

• Chilli garlic sauce (I used Maggi sauce) – 1 tbsp
• Maida (plain flour) - 3 tbsp
• Dark soya sauce - 1 tsp
• Salt - if required
• White pepper powder - a pinch or 1/4 tsp
• Ajinomoto (MSG) – 1/4 tsp

For sauce

• Oil - 1 tbsp (vegetable oil, sun flower oil or groundnut oil)
• Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves
• Ginger - 1 1/2 tsp
• Green chillies - 2
• White pepper powder - 1/4 tsp or 1/2 tsp
• Spring onion (chopped) - 2 1/2 cup)
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Green chillies (chopped diagonally) - 2
• Ajinomoto - 1/4 tsp
• Chilli garlic sauce - 3 tbsp to 4 tbsp
• Tomato ketchup - 3 tbsp
• Water – 3/4 cup
• Chicken stock (knor) - 1/2 cube
• Corn starch – corn flour 2 tsp + water 1/2 cup
• Dark soya sauce – 3 tsp
• Black pepper powder – 1/4 tsp or a big pinch

Method

Marinating and frying chicken

• Marinate the chicken for 1/2 hr or so ,no need to add water.
• Cut chicken into small pieces (chunks). Chicken should be well coated with flour and other ingredients as seen in the picture.
• take a bowl, add all sauces in it, soya sauce ,tomato ketchup, chilli garlic sauce, pepper, ajinomoto, mix well and keep it aside or in the fridge for 30min.

• the mixture should be dry not like a batter.
• If more flour required can add according to your mixture.
• after sometime take it out and deep fry the chicken pieces in small portions and keep it aside.

• The pieces are small so it wont take much time, when fried it will be in dark colour because of chilli garlic sauce and soya sauce.


Gravy

• chop all the vegetables and keep it aside. I have used chopped green chillies and diagonally cut chillies also. Both green and white part of spring onion is used.

• first put oil in a wider pan or kadai, when it gets warm add ginger, garlic stir for a second, then add chopped green chillies, spring onions, chicken cube and stir well for 30sec to 1min,keep stirring on a medium flame, till the spring onion are lightly cooked but not burnt.

• Now add all the sauces, with diagonal cut green chillies and sugar, white pepper powder, stir quickly for a minute and then add water1/2cup immediately init, and cook it.

• when the sauce boils and thickens after 3to4 min, add black pepper powder, ajinomoto or msg, salt if required, remaining green chillies cut diagonal shape, stir well.
• Now add 1/3rd cup more water for the gravy and mix well, keep stirring, so that it should not stick to the pan, let it cook for a while, till you get the sauce consistency, it will take 4to5 min.

• when the sauce is reduced or cooked, add corn starch(corn flour + 1/2cup water) and mix well, cook for few minutes, so that rawness of corn flour goes away.

• In between of cooking I used to reduce the flame to simmer as when it was required, so that to avoid burning.
• when you add corn flour starch, the gravy should be little thin or watery as, when you add corn flour starch, it makes thicker and glossy texture comes.
• when you get a good consistency of gravy after 2 to3 mins, add fried chicken pieces in it , mix well, cook for 2 mins or till the chicken is binded and coated well with the sauce and switch it off.

• Drizzle some chopped green part of spring onions and serve it with any fried rice.
• I have served it with chicken and egg vegetable fried rice.

Notes

• if you do not want spicy, can reduce chillies and pepper powder.
• Like more spicy can increase green chillies if you like.
• While adding corn flour starch in gravy, you need to be care full, as the liquid should be thin, otherwise, the gravy will become very thick and dry.
• I have added chicken stock cube, that’s why I added water, if adding chicken stock, do not add water.
• While cooking, keep stirring as the ingredients are added one by one and gets cooked fast also.
• If you think that while cooking , the ingredients are burning just keep it off the heat and when the heat is reduced, start cooking again, or just reduce the flame.
• Spring onions I have used both white and green. you can add chopped capsicum also in the end.
• If you think that the sauce has thickened after adding cornflour starch then add little water as per the requirement.
• Can avoid ajonomoto and change the ingredients according to your taste.
• It is just adding one by one ingredient stirring and cooking it till it is cooked and its raw smell has gone, no need to see the seconds or minutes.
• If you do not want to marinate it with plain four but wanted like batter type then make your own batter like plain flour(maida), cornflour, egg mix it and dip the chicken pieces and fry it or if vegetarian can use curd and rice flour also, make like a batter and fry it in deep oil, before that just marinate with above sauces.