Manchurian

Manchurian refers to foods that belong to the area of Manchuria in China. The Manchuria is the term collectively used to refer regions in Northeast China. Manchurian is the suffix popularly used for presenting various Indian – Chinese dishes. These Indo-Chinese dishes have no similarity or relation to the foods prepared in Manchuria. The Indo- Chinese cuisine adapts Chinese cooking techniques and ingredients to suit Indian tastes. The Indian-Chinese cuisine was developed by Chinese who settled in Kolkata few centuries back. There are many dishes like Chicken/Gobi Manchurian, which have no similarity to the chicken or cabbage dishes prepared in the Manchuria region. In India these types of dishes are paired with cocktail. This particular genre of dish may refer to sweet–sour-spicy sauce which is mixed with chicken, vegetables and noodles to prepare various dishes.

Manchurian Recipe- Suggested Ingredients 
The dish is prepared by combining vegetables, chicken and noodles. While preparing the dish, main emphasis is given on combining the spring onions, spices, vegetables, and sauces. The vegetables or chicken are/is boiled and shaped in the form of balls, dipped in the batter of flour, and deep fried in oil to make it crunchy. The crunchy balls are then served with sauce (of same name) and garnished with spring onions. Like other Chinese dishes the Indo-Chinese dishes incorporate various ginger and soy sauce, and Indian spices like turmeric, cumin, and hot chilies.  

Popular Manchurian Variants

• Gobi Manchurian: This is a popular Manchurian recipe which is prepared by using cauliflower florets, corn flour, plain flour, ginger, spring onion, red chili, red chili powder, oil and milk. It is prepared dry or with thick gravy depending on the taste preferences. This is normally served as the starter and teamed with chappathi or rice. They are also known as cauliflower fritters.
• Idli Manchurian: This is a popular Indo-Chinese Manchurian recipe,which mainly uses idli as the base ingredient. Corn flour, all-purpose flour, warm water, ginger garlic paste are used in the preparation process. Other than that capsicum, onions, ginger, garlic, red chili, soya sauce, chili sauce, vinegar, etc are used for preparing the sauce.
• Potato Manchurian: This is a popular Indo-Chinese dish which is prepared using potatoes, garlic, ginger, cornflour, coriander leaves and soya sauce, tomato ketchup, chili-garlic sauce, hot chili sauce.
• Chicken Manchurian: This dish is prepared by sauteeing chicken with vegetables in a spicy sauce. This manchurian recipewas invented by Nelson Wang in 1975.
• Baby Corn Manchurian: This is a popular Indo-Chinese dish which is prepared using babycorn, rice flour, corn flour, chili-garlic sauce, ginger-garlic paste, soya sauce, cashew peanut powder, garlic, tomato sauce, and oil.

Manchurian Trivia
It is believed that dishes  from this genre were popularized by Taro Japanese chefs. Taro Japanese chefs prepared Chinese dishes and were universally renowned for their exceptional culinary skills. Taro Japanese chefs have popularized the dish over USA.