1head medium sized cauliflowerbroken into medium-sized florets, washed
oil for greasing
2tbspchopped spring onion greensfor garnishing
For the batter:
½cupChickpea flourBesan or use plain flour
¼cupRice flourcorn starch also works great in place of rice flour
½tspbaking powder - optional but recommended for baking option
Paprika to taste
¼tspTurmeric for the color as air frying the manchurian will bring dull color
Salt Pepper to aste
about 3/4 cup water or as needed
For the sauce:
½cupTomato puree or sweet & sour saucetomato ketchup can be used
1tbspred chilli or hot sauce*
2-3tbspsoy sauce or 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1tbspgarlicminced (or paste)
1tbspgingerminced (or paste)
¼cupceleryfinely chopped, if available (Celery salt can be used as well)
¼cupSpring onionfinely chopped, if desired
1tbspcorn syrup or corn starch dissolve with wateroptional-Arrowroot powder can be used to enhance the taste and texture of gravy and also good for heath.
salt if needed only
Instructions
Mix together all the ingredients for the batter in a bowl. Add the water carefully so that batter has a reasonably thick coating consistency.
Preheat the air fryer at 350F for 3 minutes or oven at 350F.
Mix cauliflower florets with prepared batter and make sure they're well coated with the batter. Carefully drop the batter coated florets, as one "lump" into the air fryer pan in a single layer or on the baking tray for the oven. Spray or grease batter coated cauliflower florets with oil. Bake or Air fry for about 15 minutes shaking in between after about 8 minutes, till they're crisp and a nice brown in colour. Remove from the air fryer pan when done and follow the same procedure for the remaining batch.
Do this air frying no more than about half an hour before serving, as these cauliflower fritters tend to lose their crispness after a while.
To keep them crispy for later use, I turn on my toaster oven on lowest heat and spread all the fritters in a single layer and it stays crispy anytime you take them out.
For making the sauce:
Take medium size of pan and heat of oil for making sauce.
When the oil is hot enough, add spring onion followed by ginger, garlic and celery. Add salt.
Sauté all above ingredients till oil separates.
In mean while mix corn starch with 1/4 cup of water and keep aside.
Add Tomato Sauce, chili & soy sauce. Cook for another minute or so.
Add corn starch mixture to the sauce and cook for another minute or so. Turn off the stove and keep the sauce on side.
This sauce should be a bit on the thicker side. If you feel it is too thick, you may add a couple of spoons of water to thin it down slightly, before taking the sauce off the stove.
I have seen "Manchurian" dishes where the sauce is thick and just coats the dumplings and some where the sauce is a little thinner and more like gravy.
To serve:
I prefer to mix cauliflower with sauce right before serving.
Place the fried cauliflower dumplings in a serving bowl and pour the sauce over the dumplings evenly covering them completely. Garnish with chopped spring onion greens and serve warm, with noodles or rice.
Another way to serve is mix the cauliflower florets with the sauce into the pan and serve immediately.