{Guest Post} Chicken manchurian by Finla of My kitchen treasures

Hi all, Thank you all for checking on me. I Hope you all had a great time, Eid and a blessed Ramadan. On my side, I have been keeping great. I Had great time in India and Abu dhabi. It’s about 20 days that I am back from my holidays, but still in the holiday hangover. I always feel refreshed and totally energized after a holiday that also means I stay relaxed.

This is another guest post from one of my dearest bloggers, Finla. I have to apologize to her for doing this so late. I was hoping to schedule it for the time I was away so that blog doesn’t deprive of attention. But sadly, I ran out of time, was stuck with packing, cleaning up the house etc before we left and I could barely finish the previous post!

It’s not easy to get back to normal life after vacation, at least not me.  After the laid back life back home and lot of pampering, chit chats, gossips, late night talks, hogging on like no tomorrow, takes a while for me get back to routine. After every holidays, you would have noticed I take a while to get back in action. I realise how much of time blogging really takes. After my return, I haven’t shot any pictures and I see myself having so much of time to relax and to lazy around; less dishes to wash, less cleaning up and less stressful too.

Finla is my one of my favorite bloggers, my Mac-buddy. Apart from all the mac research I do, she is the one whom I ping on and off with all my silly doubts. She is a great person, warm, charming and full of energy. She’s a great baker, bakes amazing goodies and macarons. When I asked her to do a guest post for me she had great deal of choice for me which included macarons, but I chose her chicken Manchurian recipe. I loved that recipe of hers and it looked great. Check her blog Kitchentreasures out for real treasure and a feast, I tell you, you will enjoy the tour. Finla, thank you so much for your time and doing this post for me. I loved it.

I have never done a Guest Post as mostly when someone ask me to do a Guest post I say no, as I myself don't have that much inspiration to write a post in my blog so how can I do them for others. But then, when Shab's asked me to a Guest Post, I coudn't say no, as we have been having so much fun on facebook admiring each other's food and baking especially Macarons. And also she is going for a month of holiday, so she really needed friends doing guest post for her. I have to admit I have had fun doing the guest post.

I am sure if you are Non Indian you have never heard about this dish .Chicken Manchurian an Indo- Chinese cuisine, is the adaptation of Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques to suit Indian taste buds. The Indo Chinese cuisine is said to have been developed by the small Chinese community that  lived in Kolkatta (formerly Calcutta) for over a century. Today, the Chinese food has become an integral part of the Indian culinary scene. It is also enjoyed by Indian and Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore, North America etc...

Manchurian Chicken, consists of chicken with vegetables in a spicy sauce. It is entirely a creation of Chinese restaurants in India, and bears little resemblance to traditional Chinese Cuisine. It is said to have been invented in 1975 by Nelson Wang. Wang described his invention process as starting from the basic ingredients of an Indian dish, namely chopped garlic, ginger, and green chilis, but next, instead of adding garam masala, he puts in soy sauce, followed by cornstarch and the chicken itself. A popular vegetarian variant replaces chicken with cauliflower, and is commonly known as gobi manchurian. Other possibilities include prawn, fish, mutton, or paneer.

Chicken Manchurian

Ingredients:

½ kilo Chicken breast

1 1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1 Egg

3 tbsp Flour

2 tbsp Corn flour

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tsp Pepper powder

1 cup Oil for frying or more depending on the pan you use

1/4 cup Spring onions ( I have used onions when I don't have spring onions)

4 to 5 Garlic cloves chopped finely

1 small piece Ginger chopped finely
2 to 3 chillies chopped ( optional)

1 Capsicum chopped

2 tbsp Celery ( optional)

3 tbsp Oil

2 to 3 tbsp Corn flour

2 to 3 tbsp Soy sauce

2 to 3 tbsp Ketchup

Salt for taste

Extra spring onions for garnish

Preparations:

1.Make a paste using egg, flour, corn flour, soy sauce, and pepper powder.

2. Heat the oil for frying in a wok and dip the chicken pieces in the paste you made and deep fry and drain on a kitchen paper.

3. Don't overload the wok; you can fry the chicken pieces in batches. Keep them aside.

4. In a another wok/ pan heat 3 tbsp of oil.
 

5. Add the spring onions ,garlic, ginger,chillies, capsicum and celery and fry for few minutes.
 

6. Add the soy sauce and Ketchup. Give it a stir and then add the chicken stock.

7. When it boils mix the corn flour with a little cold water and then add so that the sauce getes thicker.
 

8. When the sauce thickens, add the fried chicken and the extra spring onions and serve directly with rice to noodles.

Notes:

1.If you want more gravy then add more chicken broth, but then use more corn flour to get the thickness for the gravy.
 

2. If you think you sauce is too thick just add a bit water or chicken broth.
 

3. This is a recipe you have to make and eat it straight away, which otherwise the fried chicken goes soggy because of the special paste method used for frying the chicken.
 

4. If I don't have capsicum at home or spring onions, then I just use normal onions and don't use capsicum.