Gobi manchurian recipe – Make the best super delicious & crispy gobi manchurian at home with this simple recipe. Cauliflower manchurian is one of the most popular manchurian dishes from Indo chinese cuisine. Gobi means cauliflower in hindi & manchurian is a sweet, tangy & slightly spicy sauce made with chilli sauce, vinegar, ginger & garlic.
This delicious crisp fried appetizer is very popular in Indian subcontinent. It makes its appearance everywhere in street stalls, restaurants and even in parties. Gobi manchurian is not an authentic Chinese dish nor a manchu dish but is a fusion of both the Indian & Chinese cuisine.
If you are new to Indo chinese cuisine then read on to know more.
What is gobi Manchurian?
Gobi Manchurian is a popular Indo Chinese appetizer made with cauliflower, corn flour, soya sauce, vinegar, chilli sauce, ginger & garlic.
To make gobi manchurian, cauliflower is first coated in batter & then deep fried until crisp. Then these are tossed in sweet, sour and hot manchurian sauce.
Though a manchurian recipe can be made using chicken, mixed vegetable, soya chunks, fish etc – this one made with cauliflower has very much been loved and raved by most Indians.
The aroma and taste of fried cauliflower makes gobi manchurian a unique & super delicious appetizer.
This crispy gobi manchurian recipe is roughly adapted from the other manchurian recipes on the blog,
Veg manchurian
Chicken manchurian
Fish manchurian
There are 2 variations of gobi Manchurian – first one is a dry or a semi dry version & the second one a gravy version.
Which one tastes best – dry or gravy gobi manchurian?
My vote is for the dry or semi dry version of gobi manchurian. It is tasty & is much healthier than the gravy version. The major ingredient used to make the gravy is the corn starch which I always prefer to minimize.
Moreover the gravy version also needs more amounts of soya sauce and chilli sauce which I don’t opt. Over all it is a personal choice.
In this post I have included instructions for all the 3 versions – dry, semi dry & gravy versions. In the video I have shared how to make dry crispy gobi manchurian without using corn starch for the manchurian sauce.
For making semi dry & gravy, do check the notes in the recipe card
What to serve with gobi manchurian?
Dry gobi Manchurian is served as a starter or appetizer so you don’t need anything else. It has a right balance of slightly spicy, sour & sweet tastes so it tastes amazingly delicious on its own.
However if you are making it for a meal. Serve it alongside hakka noodles or fried rice .
Gobi manchurian gravy can be served as a side with any noodles, fried rice or even with plain fluffy long grain rice.
How to make the recipe glutenfree?
For gluten free version just replace all purpose flour with corn flour or arrowroot powder. Use gluten free sauces.
You may like to check these Cauliflower recipes
Gobi 65
Crispy gobi pakoda
Chinese Gobi manchurian recipe
Gobi manchurian recipe
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
To make gobi manchurian
- 250 grams cauliflower florets (or gobi cleaned)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or 5 to 6 tbsp maida, prefer organic or at least unbleached)
- 3 tablespoons corn flour (or corn starch)
- ½ to 1 teaspoon red chilli powder or paste (less spicy variety) (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper coarse crushed
- ¼ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- Oil for deep frying as needed
For Manchurian sauce
- 1½ tablespoons oil for sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic finely chopped
- ½ tablespoon ginger finely chopped
- 1 green chili chopped (optional)
- 1/3 cup onions or spring onions finely chopped
- ¼ cup bell pepper (capsicum chopped finely) (optional)
- 1 tablespoon Soya sauce (organic or naturally brewed)
- 2 tablespoon Red Chilli sauce (preferably less spicy kind)
- ½ tablespoon Red chili powder (optional) (less spicy variety)
- ½ tablespoon vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon tomato sauce optional, I have not used
- ¾ teaspoon sugar (adjust to taste)
- salt as needed
- 3 tablespoons water
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon pepper coarsely crushed
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 2 tablespoons spring onion greens chopped for garnish
How to make the recipe
Preparation for gobi manchurian
- Clean 250 grams of gobi and cut the florets to medium size. Add them to 3 cups of hot water and rest for 5 minutes.
- Later drain the gobi completely and spread on a clean cloth until no moisture remains on the gobi. You can also leave it in a colander until all the water dries up. Any moisture in the gobi will cook it to soft and not crisp.
- Heat up the oil for deep frying on a medium heat. Meanwhile make the batter by adding corn flour, plain flour, red chilli powder, pepper and salt to a mixing bowl.
- Mix and add water little by little as needed and make a free flowing lump free batter. The consistency has to be medium and not too thick or very runny. Adjust salt as needed by tasting the batter.
- Then add the gobi florets to the batter in batches, coat them well.
Frying cauliflower
- When the oil turns hot enough, check by dropping a small amount of batter to the hot oil. The batter has to rise without browning. This is the correct temperature.
- Pick up each cauliflower floret with a spoon or fingers & gently drop them one by one to the hot oil. The flame has to be medium initially and should be increased slightly as more gobi is added. Reduce the flame to medium and fry until the florets turn golden and crisp. Keep stirring in between for even frying.
- Drain them to a kitchen tissue or a steel colander. Repeat the same steps of adding the rest of the cauliflower florets to the batter, coating them well and then frying them in hot oil until crisp.
- For extra crisp gobi manchurian, you can also refry the once fried gobi again in oil. I usually do not do it as frying them once is good enough to get very good crisp manchurian with this recipe.
How to make gobi manchurian
- Mix together red chili powder with little water to a paste and keep aside. This step is optional and is used mainly for the color.
- Heat 1½ tablespoons oil in a wide pan.
- When the oil turns hot, add garlic, ginger and chilies. Saute for a minute or two.
- Then add spring onions & capsicum. Saute them on a high flame for 2 mins.
- Add soya sauce, red chili sauce, red chili paste, sugar and vinegar. (for gravy version refer the notes section below).
- Mix and add water. Mix and cook stirring and add pepper.
- Cook on a medium heat until the sauce thickens. Turn off the stove and check the taste.
- The sauce has to be slightly sour, sweet & hot. If needed you can adjust the salt as well.
- Allow the sauce to cool for 1 to 2 mins.
- Add the fried cauliflower and stir gently to coat the gobi well with the manchurian sauce.
- Garnish gobi manchurian with spring onion greens.
- Serve immediately as a appetizer or as a side with noodles or fried rice.
Video
Video of crispy gobi manchurian recipe
NUTRITION
Notes
To make gobi manchurian semi-dry
- Double the amount of chilli sauce, red chilli powder,sugar, vinegar and tomato sauce.
- Mix 1 tsp corn flour with half cup water. Stir in to the bubbling sauces. Taste and adjust the sweet, spice & tang.
To make gobi manchurian gravy
- Triple the amount of chilli sauce, red chilli powder, sugar, vinegar & tomato sauce.
- Mix ¾ tbsp corn flour with 1 cup of water and stir in to the bubbling sauces. Taste the sauce when it thickens and adjust the sweet, spice & tang.
- Please adjust the amount of chilli powder as needed. I use a low heat chilli powder. Some readers mentioned it turned out too spicy for them. You can totally skip the chilli powder in the seasoning as it is used only for color.
- Since cauliflower is fried for long time, for health reasons discard the used oil and do not reuse it.
Preparation for gobi manchurian recipe
1. Clean cauliflower florets and add them to hot water, not to very hot or boiling water. Rest them for 3 to 5 mins. Discard the water and rinse them well few times. Drain them to a colander. Allow the water to drain completely.
2. Spread them on a clean cotton cloth or a wide colander. Air dry for sometime. This is done to remove excess moisture after washing. I usually leave them in a wide basket colander for sometime.
3. Begin to heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame. Meanwhile prepare the batter. To a large mixing bowl, add plain flour/ maida, corn flour, red chilli powder, salt and pepper. Mix.
4. Add water as needed and make a free flowing batter.
5. The batter must be smooth, free flowing and thick. It should not be runny or too thick. Check the salt, if needed add more.
6. Add gobi to this batter and coat them well.
7. Check if the oil is hot enough and pick up the florets one by one and gently slide in hot oil.
How to make crispy gobi manchurian?
8. This two step guide will help you to make perfect crunchy fried gobi.
Make sure the flame is medium when you begin to add the florets and the oil is hot. Gradually as you add more florets to the pan, slightly increase the flame to maintain the temperature.
9. Once you finish adding the florets, regulate the flame to medium again and keep frying stirring often. At one point you will see that the bubbles begin to seize or at least reduce, then put the flame to low and allow them to fry for 2 to 3 mins without burning. During this 2 to 3 mins you have to keep stirring without stopping else they may get burnt.
10. The above 2 steps give the same effect of double frying the gobi which is usually done in restaurants. Remove them when they are golden.
11. Drain them on a kitchen tissue. This recipe requires frying gobi for longer time, the oil is no longer good to use. Just discard it.
Making manchurian sauce
12. Add 1 ½ tbsp fresh oil in a wide pan or wok and heat it. Add garlic, ginger and green chilies. Saute them well for 1 to 2 mins. Do not over fry as it makes the manchurian bitter.
13. Add onions or spring onions and capsicum. Even onion works well here. Finely chopped capsicum lends a very good flavor to the sauce. Saute this for 1 to 2 mins.
14. Add soya sauce. Prefer organic or at least naturally brewed soya sauce for health reasons.
15. Add red chilli sauce, red chilli paste and vinegar. To make red chilli paste, mix chilli powder with little water. Do not add dry powder to the pan, this may make the sauce bitter.
16. Add sugar.
17. Mix everything well.
18. Pour 3 tbsps of water. Mix it very well and allow to cook on a low heat until the sauce thickens. Red chilli sauce has already starch added to it so as we add water and cook it turns saucy.
19. Add coarsely crushed pepper. When the sauce turns thick turn off the stove and allow to cool down a bit. Just for 2 mins. Taste the sauce. It has to be slightly sour, sweet & hot. If needed you can adjust the salt, vinegar and red chilli sauce as well. I have not used any extra sauce than mentioned in the recipe card.
20. Add fried gobi, just before serving. Toss well.
21. Garnish with spring onions.
Serve gobi manchurian as a appetizer or a side with fried rice or noodles.
Lakshmi Rohith says
Hi
I have tried lot of your recipes and all were so good..😍
I’m planning to make Gobi Manchurian for a home party.So I’m planning make fried gobis and gravy or sauce seperate and refrigerate it and combine just before serving. Will it work…?? Should I fry gobis again ??
swasthi says
Hi Lakshmi
Thanks for trying the recipes. Gobi manchurian is best served immediately after making. You can make the sauce ahead and refrigerate but it is good to fry the gobi just before serving as they turn soft. You will have to bring the sauce to consistency and then add the fried gobi since refrigerated sauce turns thick. Hope this helps. Have a great time!
🙂
ANZ says
Hi,
I liked your recipe a lot. Thank you!
Just two things — I wasn’t sure of the red chili sauce — couldn’t find anything other than Sriracha chili sauce. But mine turned out to be too spicy. I used the exact measurements but my batter didn’t go around all the cauliflower completely.. Maybe I didn’t add enough water? but it looked very similar to the picture above in terms of consistency.
Thanks again for the recipe. Will try to add less cauliflower next time and use less sriracha.
swasthi says
Hi Anz,
You are welcome. Glad you liked the recipe.
You can simply skip the red chilli powder in the recipe to reduce the spice or heat. Yes Sriracha is more spicier than the Asian red chilli sauce.
I guess the size of the florets matter for the batter. Not sure though!
Thanks for trying.
Krystle says
Your recipes make the best indian food and best indian recipes we have ever tried and we have tried indian food in many countries!
You have helped me make my husband so happy! 🙂 thank you for making your website and sharing your delicious recipes! Namaste.
swasthi says
Namaste Krystle,
You are most welcome. So happy to read your comment. Glad the recipes are helpful. Thank you so much for the comment.
Have a wonderful weekend!
🙂
Rashmi says
Hey Swasthi.. Your recipes are amazing. Thank you soo much for all your recipes.
swasthi says
Hi Rashmi,
You are welcome. Thank you so much!
🙂
Prabh says
It seems so delicious, will try to make it today
swasthi says
Yes do try it.
johnson says
I Mae it today, Awesome recipe …..thanks for posting
swasthi says
Welcome Johnson
Thank you
Farah says
Hi I’m confused what is red chilli sauce and red chili paste. I’m in Toronto and here we have all kinds of sauces from Asia, middle east, and south east etc.
swasthi says
Hi Farah,
Red chilli sauce is a bottled sauce made of red chilies, sugar, starch, garlic etc. This is used in asian cooking but any other sauce of your choice will work for gobi manchurian. Just choose a less spicy one.
Regarding the red chilli paste, you can skip it as it is only used for the deep color. It can be made by soaking deseeded red chilies in hot water for 30 minutes. Then blending it until smooth. If you cannot make it, just use a bit of red chilli powder or paprika powder mixed with 2 tbsps water.Hope this helps.
H says
can we use besan for the batter instead of all purpose flour? will it impact the recipe at all?
swasthi says
Hi,
Not sure how the flavor of besan will blend with the sauce. It may turn out good. Instead you can try this Gobi pakoda with besan. They turn out super good.
Alyssa says
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! This is one of my favorite foods to get at Indian restaurants, but we are so far away from any that I wanted to make it at home! I tried 3 other recipes before this one, and this is the best in my opinion. I’ve made it four times down and it’s getting better and better each time. Thank you again!
swasthi says
Hi Alyssa,
You are welcome. Glad to know you liked it. Thanks a lot for the comment. Happy reading it!
🙂
Sherry says
Thank you for these amazing recipes.
Gobi Manchurian is my favorite Indian dish. The videos are excellent.
swasthi says
Hi Sherry,
You are welcome. Thanks for rating the recipe. Hope you enjoy the food.
🙂
Bhuvana Ramachandran says
Is it alright to skip chilli sauce and substitute all purpose flour with whole wheat flour?
swasthi says
Hi Bhuvana,
This gobi manchurian recipe if made as is, tastes great. With substitues I am not sure whether you will like it. Yes you can skip chilli sauce but then there will be no enough sauce to coat the gobi. You may substitute it with any other sauce. You can use wheat flour for all purpose flour.Hope you enjoy it!
🙂
Bhuvana says
Thank you 😀 It turned out great !!!
swasthi says
You are welcome Bhuvana
Vijaya says
Is it possible to skip the soya sauce for gobi manchurian??
swasthi says
Hi Vijaya,
Yes you can skip. You will miss the soya flavor
Priyanka says
Thank u for wonderful recipe.. turned out very good, my husband liked it.
swasthi says
Welcome Priyanka
Great! Glad your Gobi manchurian turned out good.
Rini says
This turned out very well! Thank you!
swasthi says
Welcome Rini
Thanks for the comment
Farah says
Hi Swasthi!I enjoy reading ur recipes &hv tried out some of ur recipes too,which hv turned out well😊I live in Sgp…
This is regarding Chinese appetiser dishes –
1)Which brand of chilli sauce do u use?
2)For ur fish curry recipes – which boneless fish wld u recommend?
TIA👍
swasthi says
Hi Farah,
Thanks for trying the recipes. Glad to know you. I either use maggie chili sauce or make my own at home. I don’t make fish curry in Singapore as I feel they don’t go well in gravies. The fish curry recipes I have made for the blog post were during my visits to India. You can try some fresh river fish from little India. I mostly use batang or salmon for fish fry from fair price. Hope this helps. Sorry for the delay. I forgot to reply.
Lavanya says
Awesome step by step guideline to make a delicious gobi Manchurian.
I am preparing it for 20 people today and can it become soft if I make it early because party is at another house.
swasthi says
Hi Lavanya
Thank you so much. Hope your guests will enjoy this.
Pushparaj Santhosh says
Can you please tell how to prepare Gobi manchurian gravy
swasthi says
You can check the recipe notes to make gobi manchurian gravy
Kira says
Hi Swasthi!
Great recipe. I made it far too spicy by adding the chilli paste! But otherwise fantastic. Thank you!
swasthi says
Hi Kira
You are welcome. Thanks for trying. I put a note on the recipe about the chilli powder.
🙂
Prasanna says
Tried gobi Manchuria.was nice
swasthi says
Thanks for trying
Spoorthi says
OMG I tried this out and it turned out to be so good 👍
swasthi says
Thanks for trying
Satish says
Hi, why are you not using Ajinomoto , want it taste better i know it’s bad for health. Thank’s it was helpfull and easy to understand.
swasthi says
Hi Satish
You are welcome.
Thank you. Gobi manchurian tastes good even without ajinomoto.
Ish says
I tried in our getogether.. all said it’s superb.. it came out well… thank you..
swasthi says
Welcome Ishu
Glad to know it turned out good. Thanks for the comment