"Appetizers"- Vegetable Manchurian(Dry)

Indo-Chinese cooking is fun, tasty and one of my favorites. Back in Pune, there were always tons of street vendors selling this type of food.It used to be a 'to go' spot for youngsters. The food was tasty- really spicy- and probably nothing like the real 'Chinese' food!!!Actually many of the cooks at these stalls were 'Nepali' and not real 'Chinese'!! But they had successfully captured the 'Indian taste buds'!!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
1/2cup finely chopped carrots
1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
1tbsp chopped cilantro
2tbsp Soy Sauce
2tsp Maggie hot and sweet sauce
1/4tsp black pepper
1/4tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup finely sliced green peppers
1/4 cup sliced carrots
few broccoli crowns
1tsp sliced green chilies
2tbsp all purpose flour
1tbsp Corn flour
salt
oil

Method:
1) Mix together finely chopped cabbage, carrots, all purpose flour,corn flour,black pepper,1/2tsp ginger garlic paste, red pepper flakes, salt,1 tbsp soy sauce.
2) Add little water and make into thick batter( you should be able to make Manchurian  'balls' for frying)
3) Deep fry the balls till golden brown. Keep aside

4) Shallow fry sliced green peppers, carrots, broccoli, green chilies and remaining ginger garlic paste. Fry just for couple mins.The veggies should remain crisp.
5) Add the soy sauce, hot and sweet sauce, Manchurian balls and mix.
6) Garnish with Cilantro.

"Appetizers"- Gobhi Manchurian

I am always intrigued ....how different cuisines are modified to suite the taste of the locals.Like for example....Chinese food.The 'authentic' Chinese food is much different than the Chinese food sold in the restaurants in India or US. It is more aptly called 'Indo-Chinese' food in India.It is heavily spiced with chillies,garlic,ginger etc to suite the taste of 'we' Indians...otherwise it will be mere 'bland' food for us.
It is interesting, that every person has an acquired taste for certain food.A food which is 'delicious' for one could be 'tasteless' for other person.As it is rightly said by Lucretius (96 BC - 55 BC), De Rerum Natura :'What is Food to One,is to others bitter poison".Leaving aside the extremity of 'poison',the quote is really true! We like food, which our taste buds approve of.If our taste buds are 'tuned' to certain taste,we prefer only 'that' type of food.You have to go out of your way to appreciate other tastes and other's food.
This makes me wonder,how the judges at food competitions like 'Iron chef' ,can judge impartially??? If the judge himself is born and brought up in .....say Italy and has mostly cooked and judged Italian food (And may be other European food),how can he appreciate a ..say..Japanese chef..or an Indian chef? Are his taste buds appreciative of all tastes???
Anyways.....the 'Indo-Chinese' dish that I prepared today,made me ponder on the 'Taste Buds' and these other thoughts...
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
1) About 20 florets of cauliflower
2) 5tbsp All purpose flour
3) 3tbsp Corn flour
4) 1/4 tsp black pepper
5)1/4 tsp chili powder
6) 1/4-1/2 tsp chili sauce(depends how spicy you want)
7) 1tbsp Soy sauce
8)2tsp Ketchup
9) 1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste
10) Water
11) Oil to fry
12) Green onion stems for garnishing
13)Salt to taste
Method:
1) Wash the cauliflower florets and dry well.
2) Mix together all purpose flour,corn flour,black pepper,chili powder,salt and water to make smooth paste.Not to watery nor too thick.
3) Dip each floret in the batter and fry till golden brown on medium heat.Drain well and keep on paper towel.
4) In a pan,heat 1/2 tsp oil,add the ginger garlic paste,soy sauce,ketchup,chili sauce and the fried cauliflower florets.Mix all together.Take off the heat.
5) Garnish with green onions stems cut diagonally.
6) Serve with noodles/fried rice,soup etc.

Variations:
1) Other vegetables like carrots,mushrooms,onions,capsicum etc can be diced and added to the sauce.
2) Manchurian gravy can be made by adding water and corn starch to the above sauce.