Well ‘evening ladies and gentlemen. We have some Chinese cooking going on here today and I can bet my arse that you’ll love this Chicken Manchurian recipe.
Not so long ago, I picked this book off a book-store, one that sells second hand books that is! And my what a find. Although i had to clean the book a little bit with soap water, it was worth every penny. It is worth more than the penny.
Written by Vivian NG, this book is a treasure box of authentic Chinese cooking. Born in Singapore and now an Australian resident, in this book Vivian gives out her favorite Chinese Recipes with mouthwatering photographs, clicked by her husband John-Richard Taye.
What I really love about this book is, its personal. When you read lines like this: “Remember when cooking Chinese food much depends on your personal taste and that the quantities of herbs and spices can be varied to suit. do not be put off making a recipe just because you do not have one of the ingredients…”, you, somewhere inside your heart, know that its gonna come out perfect. Its not the mere ingredients and the measure but also your instincts and love for cooking. I love the oriental setting and the brilliant photography too that eggs you to cook.
Although this recipe is not a part of this book, the sauce is inspired from the gravy recipes in this book which uses a lot of freshly julienned green chilies, ginger and garlic. Very aromatic, as you can understand and with an oriental tang, this is your go-to Chinese Recipe, which is easy, fun and extremely tasty.
Ingredients
1 lb chicken meat, cut into 1inch square pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour
1 beaten egg
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
salt
ground black pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons crushed ginger
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons crushed green chili peppers
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ajinomoto
2 tablespoons cornflour, dissolved in
1/4 cup water
Directions:
Mix corn flour, flour, salt and pepper with the beaten egg to make the batter.
Dip the chicken pieces in the batter, deep fry till golden brown. Keep aside.
For the Manchurian sauce, heat oil in a pan. Lightly fry garlic and ginger till they just change color.
Add green chilies and cilantro leaves. Fry for a minute.
Reduce heat, add chicken stock, Soya sauce, salt, sugar, pepper and ajinomoto. You’ll cook this for 5 minutes.
Add corn flour mixed with water and give one boil. Add fried chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Serve hot.
And if you have not bought this book already, Go buy. It will be worth it for winter’s coming. How you’d love some chilli ginger in a warm gravy. no?
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