Chicken Manchurian

While the Chinese have been visiting India for millennia in search of Buddhist teachings, Yang Tai Chow was the first recorded Chinese to migrate to India for better material prospects. In 1778 he put down roots in Kolkata, or Calcutta, the then capital of British India and the easiest accessible metropolitan area from China by land. And so it was with food that the Sino-Indian cultural fusion began.

About 85 years ago, the Indian culinary world was affected by a new cuisine. The first Indo Chinese restaurant Eau Chew opened in Kolkata. New restaurants mushroomed all over Kolkata, and legends like Fat Mama and Kim Fa were born, offering newer dishes with fancier combinations and names like August Moon Rolls and Fiery Dragon Chicken. Indian Chinese food wasn’t just served by restaurants big and small, but also by handcart owners, highway food stalls and mobile Chow Mein vans boasting imaginative names like Hungry Eyes and Dancing Stomach.

But wait a minute. Manchurian? Is that even a dish?

Not in China, no. But in India, it's practically synonymous with Chinese food. The result of a request by a customer at China Garden, Mumbai's original Indian Chinese restaurant, to create something different from the menu, and owner Nelson Wang (then caterer of Chinese food at the Cricket Club of India) took cubes of chicken, coated them in corn flour and deep fried them. Wang then prepared a red sauce with onions, green chillies and garlic, and slapped some vinegar and soy into it. He popped the fried chicken dumplings back into the sauce and gave it a quick stir so that the flavors came together and served it with steamed or fried rice. The customers loved it. As Nelson says, "word of mouth" spread the acclaim of this dish and today it is found in almost every menu that serves Chinese food in the country.

This word-of-mouth publicity inspired Nelson Wang to start his own restaurant China Garden which is a veritable Mumbai institution, even today.

Nowadays his son Eddie, a third generation Chinese Indian, spearheads the restaurant’s expansion to Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Goa. Not bad for a man who began his career eking out a modest living doing odd jobs, including limbo dancing at clubs in Kolkata, which, by the way, he was also very good at.

So, here goes my chicken Manchurian Recipe dedicated to Nelson Wang whose creation is one of our favorite mouth breathing recipe.....Njoy!!!

Chicken Manchurian

Ingredients:

• 1/4 kg boneless chicken, cut into fine pieces
  
• 6-7 tbsps spring onion whites
  
• 3-4 tbsps spring onion greens
  
• 1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
  
• 1/2 tbsp chopped ginger
  
• 2 tsps soya sauce
  
• 1 tbsp chilli sauce
  
• 2 tsps vinegar
  
• 1 tbsp corn flour + 5 tbsps chicken stock or water
  
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
  
• 2 tbsps tomato sauce
  
• 1/2 tsp red chilli pwd (preferably Kashmiri)
  
• salt to taste
  
• 1 1/2 tbsps sesame oil
  
• oil for deep frying
  

For marinade: (marinate chicken with below ingredients for at least 15 mts or 1 hr)

• 1/4 tsp pepper pwd
  
• 1 egg white
  
• salt to taste
  
• 1 1/2 tsps ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
  
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
  
• 1 tbsp maida/all purpose flour
  
• 2-3 tbsps corn flour
  
• 1-2 tbsps of water, if required
  

Method:

• Mix chicken Pieces with the above mentioned marinade ingrediets for at least 15 mts or 1 hr
  
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel, make small balls of the marinated chicken and carefully drop into the hot oil. Cook on low medium flame and towards the end of the cooking process increase flame to high and deep fry to a golden brown shade. Drain with a slotted spoon and place on absorbent paper. Keep aside.
• Heat a heavy bottomed vessel, add oil, add the chopped garlic and saute on high flame for about 30 secs. Add the chopped ginger and green chillis and saute for a few more secs. Add the spring onion whites and saute for 3 mts on high flame.
• Reduce to medium heat and add the brown sugar, soya sauce, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce and vinegar. Combine well and cook for 2 mts. Add 1/4 cup chicken stock or water and cook for a mt. Add the deep fried chicken balls and cook for 4 mts. Adjust salt, if necessary.
• Add the cornflour water and cook, tossing the contents, for 4-5 mts. You will find that it becomes thick due to cornflour.
• Add the chopped spring onion greens and combine. Garnish with more spring onion greens. Serve hot as a starter/appetizer.