Gobi Manchurian, a dry and crispy dish made with Cauliflower is so delicious that you will happily eat it even if you have never liked this vegetable before. The combination of the deep-fried cauliflower and the tasty sauce is what makes this dish so appealing.
This is a popular menu item under appetizers in most Indian restaurants. It is a great option for vegetarians who do not eat meat. Cauliflower is a common dish with most vegetarians. It is a good source of nutrients, fiber, and antioxidants.
Here is a recipe that I make with cauliflower and potatoes. and I usually resort to making this simple and easy dish whenever I get cauliflower from the groceries.
Some other ways to use cauliflower in dishes are to add to fried rice, vegetarian biryanis, vegetarian gravies, or baked as a whole. Here is a recipe from a fellow blogger Cauliflower Tikka, that you can bake or air-fry.
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Ingredients to make the Gobi Manchurian
- Cauliflower florets - washed, cleaned, and dried.
- All-purpose flour, corn flour, and salt - To make batter and fry the florets.
- Sauces - Soy, red chili, tomato ketchup, and cornflour to thicken the sauce.
- Garlic, Ginger, and Green chilies- Cut into fine small pieces.
- Onions - Chopped finely into small pieces.
- Scallions or green onions for sautee and garnish.
- Pepper powder - Use as tolerated.
- Vegetable or Avocado oil - For deep-frying and sautee.
Why you will love this dish?
- This dish is full of flavors, and you can get yourself to eat cauliflower even if you don't like this vegetable. This goes for the kids as well.
- It can be an appetizer or a side with noodles or fried rice. Some other appetizers that you can serve along are veggie cream cheese roll ups, beet cutlet, air-fried sabudana vada, and parippu vada.
- You could air-fry the cauliflower or bake it instead of deep-frying. However, it tastes best deep-fried. You could drain the fried florets on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Do not reduce the sauce if you would like to serve it like gravy and completely reduce the sauce to make it dry and serve it dry and crispy.
- You can be guaranteed that this dish will be a winner at any get-togethers or potlucks.
How to make Gobi Manchurian dry and crispy
Marinate the cauliflower in a batter of cornflour and all-purpose flour with a little salt. All the corners of the cauliflower must get the batter and should be well coated. Deep-fry the marinated cauliflowers in oil in small batches, so it does not overcrowd the pan. This also helps the heat to be maintained.
Add the deep-fried cauliflower bites to the spicy and delicious sauce, made with finely chopped ginger, garlic, green chilies, and green onions. Flavor with sauces like soy, red chili, and tomato ketchup. You can add green chili, and vinegar if you like but I skipped that.
Make a slurry of cornflour and water and add it to the sauce mixture. This helps make a thicker coating of the sauce. Feel free to reduce or increase the level of spices to your liking. Finally, garnish with finely chopped green onions or coriander leaves.
Step-by-step process to make the dish
- Step 1: Coat the cauliflower florets with a batter made with AP flour, cornflour, salt, and water.
- Step 2: Deep-fry the florets in oil.
- Step 3: Transfer the deep-fried cauliflower florets to a plate.
- Step 4: Sautee finely chopped onions, garlic, ginger, lower halves of spring onions, and green chilies.
- Step 5: Add black pepper and sauces soy sauce, red chili sauce, tomato ketchup, and a slurry of corn flour and water
- Step 6: Add the cauliflower bites and coat it with the sauce mixture. Garnish with spring onions and chopped coriander leaves. Transfer to a serving dish.
Some folks like the gravy in this dish. In that case, you can just skip reducing the sauce after mixing the deep-fried cauliflower into the sauce. I prefer the dry version. For that, once the fried cauliflowers are coated with sauce, saute on high heat until dry and crispy.
The Gobi Manchurian can be had by itself or as an accompaniment with ghee fried rice or plain white rice. It is best eaten when it's warm and crispy. Hope you enjoyed this recipe and will make it. Happy cooking!
Recipe FAQs
Of course yes calorie conscious folks can enjoy this dish without deep-frying. The tangy sauces and the bits of chopped garlic, ginger, and green onions will blend in well and the taste will be almost the same.
The reason we recommend to half cook the cauliflower before dipping in batter and deep-frying is, that there is a chance of the florets being uncooked.
Yes, it can be served as gravy just make sure not to reduce the sauce as you would do when serving it dry and crispy.
Ensure that all the corners of the cauliflower florets are coated well in the batter made with all-purpose flour and cornflour.
Make sure to deep-fry the marinated florets in small batches. If they are added to the frying pan all at once, the temperature of the oil will not be maintained and there is a possibility of the fried florets getting soggy.
If you tried this Crispy Gobi Manchurian Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Gobi Manchurian dry
Ingredients
For fried Cauliflower
- 1 cauliflower
- 5-6 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp all-purpose flour or maida
- 8 tbsp corn flour
For sauce
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp garlic finely chopped
- 3 tbsp ginger finely chopped
- 4-5 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup spring onions (scallions)finely chopped (Keep the upper halves for garnish)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp red chilli sauce
- 1 tsp tomato sauce ketchup
- 1 tsp corn flour
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Fried Cauliflower
- Boil enough water with salt and add the cauliflowers and drain out when they are half -cooked.
- Keep aside and add it to the batter in the next step.
- Make a batter of all the ingredients in the "for fried cauliflower" section with just about enough water so the cauliflower is well coated.
- Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the cauliflower on medium heat.
- Drain and transfer to a bowl.
For the Manchurian sauce
- Chop onions, garlic, ginger, lower halves of spring onionsnd green chillies.
- In a Wok or frying pan heat up oil.
- Add the chopped onions, garlic, ginger, lower halves of spring onionsnd green chillies.
- Add salt to taste be careful not to add a lot.
- Add all the sauces and black pepper and mix well.
- Make a slurry of cornflour and water and add it into the sauce mixture.
- Mix well and then add the fried cauliflower .
- Coat the sauce well .Add a little water and mix well
- Keep cooking till the sauces are well coated and dry.
- Garnish with rest of the spring onions and coriander leaves.
Video
Notes
- If you prefer gravy in this dish, simply skip reducing the sauce after mixing in the deep-fried cauliflower.
- For a crispy version of the dish saute on high heat until dry and crispy.
- Make sure the batter coats every corner of the cauliflower evenly.
- Deep-fry the marinated cauliflower in small batches to avoid overcrowding the pan, ensuring the heat stays consistent.
- Mix cornflour with water to make a slurry, then add it to the sauce to thicken the sauce and coat it well.
Hi Nisha, My favorite vegetarian appetizer , and you have made the manchurian so perfectly , the plate looks mouth watering. And for this cold weather , I can literally munch a bowl full, now you made crave for it, so I'm going to make these , thanks for the recipe !
Thank you so much Aarthi for your gracious comments! I did enjoy making this and it turned out really well. You are absolutely right about this dish being perfect for this cold weather 🙂 Hope you enjoy making and having as well. Have a wonderful weekend!
Never heard of tried Gobi Manchuria before but it looks and sounds delicious. It would be a great appetiser. Going to try and recreate this recipe just hope mine looks this good.
Wonderful to hear you will try and recreate this. I am pretty sure you will enjoy making and relishing this dish!
This is my favorite Indo Chinese dish! Your recipe looks great!
Thank you so much Komal, it's a favorite of ours as well .
Ooooh this sounds delicious! I love Gobi (and now I'm keto I can't have my usual staple of Aloo Gobi), so this would be perfect alternative! Thanks!
Glad to hear you love this and you found a great alternative in this dish! Happy cooking.
I love gobi manchurian so much! I actually have half a head of cauliflower in the fridge at the moment, you've got me inspired to have a go at making my own!
How nice , I try and save some cauliflower as well to make this whenever I can . I am sure you will not be disappointed with this recipe! Thank you for stopping by .
This cauliflower dish looks so addictive! I don't have a deep fryer so am going to try it in my air fryer - I can't wait.
Thank you so much Beth ! It is very addictive indeed . I have not tried with air fryer but am sure it will be great!
I love cauliflower, and I am constantly looking for new ways to incorporate this power food into my diet. I will definitely be adding this recipe to the list. Thank you for sharing this!
Many Thanks Lauren, I am so glad you liked this recipe and am sure you will love this delicious dish!
Oh your cauliflower tikka bites looks soooo gooood! I will have to give it a try.
Thank you so much Jean-Yves, it tastes really good. I would love to hear if you try this!
These cauliflower bites look and sound so so good! I love the flavours in the Manchurian sauce!
Thank you so much Jacque, the flavors of the sauce and the fried cauliflower really go well together!
Oh my word! Cauliflower Tikka sound so delicious. I'm really hungry for Indian now. Thank you for the inspiration.
Thank you so much, it's a really delicious appetizer with cauliflower indeed . My pleasure to share Su.
I'm salivating!😋 It looks delicious!!
Thank you so much for the lovely comment!
These look so crunchy and yummy! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
They turned out really awesome, crunchy, and delicious and disappeared in no time 🙂 I would love to hear if you try it out. Thank you so much!
Lovely appetizer idea - these look delicious Nisha! 🙂
They are indeed very delicious, hope you will try them! Thank you so much for stopping by!
Love these gorgeous golden gobi manchurian, they looks so appetizing. I'm going to make them this evening itself and relish them along with my ginger tea. 🙂
So glad to hear that Megala , they are very delicious and hope you enjoy them with your evening tea ! Thank you so much .
Wonderful!
Thank you so much!