Prep Work

The Cauliflower - Prep Work

• Put the kettle on or boil a pot of water. You are going to need this to dunk the cauliflower florets to remove any creepy crawlies snuggled inside the florets. We need water's temperature in the range of warm - hot, not boiling hot.
• Cut the cauliflower in such a way that you have small even-sized florets to make it easier to fry. Once you have the florets ready, dunk them in the warm water with a teaspoon of salt. Let it be for 15 minutes.

  You can use this time to prep other ingredients.
• After 5 minutes, take them out of the water and place in a bowl.

  (Pick the florets from the water carefully, not disturbing the bottom since you'll find that's where all the dirt has settled)

For the batter - Prep Work

• Mix the dry ingredients for the batter together - Cornflour, red chilli powder, pepper and salt.
• Toss the blanched florets in the cornflour mixture and ensure each floret gets coated evenly.
• Keep a plate with paper towel lined for draining the fried cauliflower.

For the sauce - Prep Work

• Dice the onions, garlic, green chillies, capsicum and spring onions - You want it really small. If you want, the capsicum can be of bigger size, but the rest have to be small.
• Get the sauce ready in a bowl- red chilli sauce, ketchup, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce. It is best to keep them ready in a bowl than adding it directly from the bottles.

  (I've had instances where a large quantity of soy sauce spilt and the dish ruined)
• Take a 4-5 tablespoons of corn flour and add 70-100 ml of water. Give it a good mix. Your corn flour slurry is ready.

  Corn flour will sink to the bottom if kept unused for a long time. But you can bring the slurry back to the correct consistency by mixing it before using.

How to make Gobi Manchurian

• The first step is to fry the cauliflower florets.

  Place the pan of oil on medium-high flame. Dip the gobi floret in the prepared batter and gently place them in the hot oil. Do the frying in batches, you do not want to crowd the oil. It should take anywhere between, 3-5 minutes per batch to achieve that golden brown, crispy texture.
• Drain the golden brown gobi on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat other batches and keep the golden brown delicacies aside.
• Place a fresh pan on medium-low flame, add a tablespoon of cooking oil.

  Once the oil is hot, add the diced onions, garlic, green chillies and spring onions. Cook it down until the onions are soft.
• Add the prepared sauce mix and give it a good mix.
• Next add the corn flour slurry that you have prepared. Its ok if the flour has settled and water is on top. Just give it a good mix and add it to the pan.
• The corn flour slurry will thicken fast, so keep an eye on it. If you think the sauce has thickened, add a little water.
• This step is the best part - Add the deep fried Gobi to the sauce. Give it a mix and you'll see your Gobi Manchurian coming together.

  Once the sauce has coated well on the Gobi, your Gobi Manchurian is ready!
• Garnish with spring onion and eat it hot!