I was first introduced to Indian Chinese food a few years ago in Hong Kong, at a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui whose name now escapes me. My first thought was, “This is Chinese food?” My second thought was, “How ironic.” The cuisine of China, brought over to India by Chinese immigrants many generations ago and given an Indian make-over, is now in the 21st century being brought to a special administrative region of China by Indian immigrants.
Chinese food developed in India the way it does around the world: by immigrants using techniques from home to cook their new world ingredients. They begin by feeding themselves, then perhaps open a restaurant to earn a living, thus adapting the food even more to suit local palettes.
Indian-Chinese cuisine incorporates not only Chinese ingredients like soy sauce and and ginger, but also cumin, turmeric, and hot chilis. Neither beef nor pork, the de facto meat of China, are used, because of India’s large Hindu and Muslim populations. That leaves chicken, lamb, and vegetables as the mainstays.
And even the vegetables used in Indian-Chinese cooking may seem foreign to the Chinese. Gobi Manchurian, one of the dishes I had in HK many years ago, is cauliflower fritters covered in a sweet-sour-spicy sauce. (“Gobi” is cauliflower in Punjabi; “Manchurian”, the name for any sweet and sour sauce, has no basis in the historical Chinese region.)
The technique for making gobi Manchurian is not unlike those for other overseas Chinese dishes, such as sweet and sour pork and sesame chicken. (We immigrants sure love our deep-fried food.) You marinate the main protein or vegetable, coat it, fry it, and make a sauce coating. Here, however, instead of plain cornstarch these cauliflower florets take a dip in a batter laced with cayenne and chili garlic paste. And the sauce, which incorporates caramelized onions, chili peppers, and ketchup, is a nice balance of sweet, tangy, and spicy.
Update:
Related Indian-Chinese Recipe: Chicken Lollipops
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Gobi Manchurian – Indian-Chinese Cauliflower Fritters
Adapted from Saveur
Serves 4 as an appetizer or part of a multi-course meal
10 to 12 cloves garlic
1 piece ginger, peeled and sliced into coins, + 1 teaspoon julienned ginger
1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
2⁄3 cup cornstarch
2⁄3 cup flour
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tsp. plus 3 tbsp. soy sauce
Peanut oil
2 small onions, chopped
8 to 10 fresh bird’s eye chilis, thinly sliced
3/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Cilantro leaves for garnish
1. In a blender, purée garlic, ginger slices, and 1⁄3 cup water. Set aside.
2. In a a pot of salted water, cook cauliflower until tender, about 5 to minutes. Drain, pat dry with a clean towel, and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix together cornstarch, flour, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Stir in half the garlic paste, 2 tsp. soy sauce, and 3⁄4 cup water to form a batter.
3. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Working in batches, dip cauliflower in batter, then fry until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer fritters with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels.
4. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of oil. Sauté onions until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add chilis and remaining garlic paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add ketchup, remaining 3 tablespoons soy sauce, sesame oil, and 1⁄3 cup water; simmer until sauce is thickened, about 1–2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Return drained cauliflour to the wok and toss to coat. Transfer to serving plate(s), garnish with julienned ginger and cilantro, and serve as an appetizer or with rice as a main entree.
This looks delicious! Why is it called ‘manchurian’ I wonder? It makes me think of Manchester, but of course that would be ‘Mancunian’.
I haven’t seen any Indian Chinese food in London yet, unless you count the dreaded ‘Chinese curry’ you get in every takeaway in the country. Horrible stuff.
Those fritters look amazing!
Diana;
I have a draft of this post :)Lovely looking gobis!
ive had this quite a few times, and i love it!! thanks for posting the recipe–im actually going to try making this with broccoli!
at an Indo-Chinese buffet in SoCal. They weren’t crispy and were too salty for me. I was going to try making my own but just adding in some Indian spices. I think there was some turmeric in the version I had.
how interesting! and definitely ironic the way food travels from country to country and undergoes certain makeovers..looks great and bet it still tastes delicious – it’s got the best of both worlds!
I can apply this sauce to anything,
Thanks for sharing!
Wandering Chopsticks – I thought about adding turmeric, but was afraid it would pale out the nice bright red color I had going. I may try it next time.
lauren – Hmm…fried broccoli sounds interesting. Let me know if you succeed.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and just wanted to introduce myself.
I’ve made several of your recipes, and have always found them to be top notch. I made the cauliflower fritters tonight, and they are phenomenal.
Keep up the good work!
lunaburning – I’m so glad the recipes worked out for you! Thanks for being a supporter of the blog!
Do you think I could fry these the day before and then reheat them in the oven? Or do you think they would be too soggy?
Susan – Fortunately or unfortunately, I always finish these on the spot, so I can’t say how they would be as leftovers. I suspect that reheating in the oven would be fine (just not microwave.) Let me know how they turn out!
Video Recipe Gobi manchurian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZGnco4wFFI
Very good recipe! I made it today and it came out really nice. Everybody liked it. Thanks for the recipe.
This is a tasty dish and there are loads of Indian restraunts that sell it, just not your traditional curry houses, you have to find places like Sarasas on the Uxbridge road in hayes, i haven’t tasted better than they do there and my Chinese friends, Maltese friends have all loved this dish from there.
The trick to this dish is to serve it quick whilst the gobi is still crisp, if it sits in the sauce for to long it goes soggy.
Hi,
The Gobi Manchurian that you get in India does not look red. Manchurian is essentially a brown color sauce/gravy. The red one (with Sichuan peppers) is also available and is called Sichuan/Schezwan sauce…:)
The traditional (ha ha) Manchurian would have green chilli, ginger, garlic all minced fine and sauteed in hot oil, then soya sauce and a dash of vinegar is added, salt, white pepepr, and cornstarch paste to thicken. Then the fried cauliflower would be stir-fried in that thickened gravy so it coats the florets, and then the chopped green coriander and chopped spring onion greens would be added. There is no red chilli added, nor is any turmeric added. The batter for cauliflower (which could be marinated in just a bit of ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and salt) would be refined flour + cornstarch + salt + pepper + baking pwd.
Wow, just made this and it was awesome! The batter stuck so well to the cauliflower, so each piece was easily coated. I added a little Sriracha to the sauce to make it extra hot. Yum!