Wednesday, July 8, 2009


Vegetable Manchurian with left over rice!

Yes, left over rice.... I cooked too much rice on the weekend and did not know what to do with it. Then it struck me... long back when I was in India, I had seen this recipe on a cooking show - either Tarla Dalal or Khana Khazana about making manchurian with left over rice! I had made it many times in India (10-12 years back!). I decided to try it again....rather reluctantly because... I hate frying... its so messy (and I have to clean it all up) and I try to stay away from it for obvious reasons... my bulging midriff and hubby's triglycerides! Hey but once in a while, indulging in to sinful fried bliss is OK.. right? But, it is never once in a while - last weekend was the long weekend, so first there were burgers, then brownies, then chocolate cake, then pakoras... the list goes on! Everyday I say to myself... I need to stop, I need to stop.... and I really need to... soon it will happen ;).... for now here goes the recipe -

For the manchurian balls
Left over rice
1 tbls corn starch (if the rice is cooked with enough water and is starchy then no need for the corn starch - just make sure you can form round balls after adding veggies)
Shredded cabbage
Grated carrots
Any other vegetables you want to add - green beans, peas, etc.. finely chopped or mashed)
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For the gravy - I adopted the gravy recipe from this blog and modified it to my taste. Prema has other excellent recipes you should definitely check out.

For the balls, mash the rice, mix all the ingredients together and make small balls. Fry them on medium (not to high, otherwise the balls break) heat. Mix them in the above gravy and garnish with spring onions. Serve with the Chinese fried rice. When hubby takes the first bite and says - "This is tooo good" without asking him how it is, you know it has to be good ;)