This spicy, tangy Indo-Chinese recipe for Mushroom Manchurian is sure to please both vegetarians and vegans alike. Meaty mushrooms are battered and shallow-fried to crispy perfection before being tossed with sweet bell peppers and a delightfully zingy sauce.
Table of Contents
About Manchurian-Style Recipes
Indo-Chinese cuisine is one of my all-time favorite food fusions. For centuries, Indian and Chinese cultures have mingled along the Silk Road via Tibet, but this culinary tradition began in earnest when a large population of Chinese people relocated to Calcutta around 250 years ago.
The combination of local Indian spices and produce with Chinese cooking techniques has taken the world by storm in recent years, resulting in the proliferation of Desi-Chini restaurants in India, Bangladesh, America, the U.K., and Canada.
The term “Manchurian” refers to a particular Indian-Chinese cooking style whereby the primary ingredient – in this case, mushrooms – is battered and fried before being tossed with a zippy sauce made from soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and green chilies.
It should be noted that the culinary creation known as Manchurian is a fusion and does not bear much resemblance to traditional Manchu cuisine that you’d find in Northeastern China.
There are two primary styles of Manchurian dishes – either dry (also sometimes called crispy) or with a sauce/gravy. Both styles use the same primary ingredients – cornstarch (cornflour), all-purpose flour, green onions, capsicum, ginger, garlic, chilies, and soy sauce.
The only real difference between dry Manchurian or Manchurian with gravy is in the amount of sauce that is used. An easy way to think of it is that the dry or crispy style dishes resemble more of a battered and fried preparation, whereas the gravy dishes have a sauce base.
About Mushroom Manchurian
What I have posted here is a dry or crispy version of Manchurian mushroom. A Manchurian dish can be made with any vegetable and even paneer.
Some of my other favorite Manchurian recipes on blog are Veg Manchurian, Gobi Manchurian and Paneer Manchurian.
This deliciously spiced mushroom dish is at once tangy, spicy, salty, and sweet – it’s a real flavor explosion! Best of all, it comes together in just 45 minutes, making it the perfect option for a busy weeknight dinner.
We love to serve our Mushroom Manchurian with bread or Roti, Fried Rice. Sometimes we pair it with a dipping sauce like Schezwan Sauce or even a red chili sauce like sriracha or sambal oelek. You can serve them as a full meal, or use them as a tasty snack or appetizer.
How to Make Mushroom Manchurian
Make Batter and Prep Mushrooms
Add all below listed batter ingredients to a bowl:
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- ½ teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar or add according to taste
- salt to taste
2: Add ⅓ cup water and whisk to a smooth batter that is neither too thick nor too thin.
3: Rinse, wipe dry and halve the mushrooms (250 grams button mushrooms). Set aside.
Fry Mushrooms
4: Heat oil for shallow frying or deep frying in a wok. Dip the mushroom in the prepared batter.
5: Once the oil is moderately hot, gently and carefully place the mushrooms in the oil. Let one side firm up and become light golden. Turn over and fry the second side.
6: .Once the mushrooms are crispy and golden brown, remove them to a plate (on kitchen paper towels) and keep them aside.
Make Mushroom Manchurian
7: Heat about 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in another pan or remove the extra oil from the pan in which we fried the mushrooms and keep about 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in it.
Add ⅓ cup chopped spring onion whites and stir fry them for a minute.
8: Add 2 to 3 chopped green chilies, 1 teaspoon finely chopped celery, 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger, and some of the spring onion greens. Stir fry for a minute.
9: Add bell pepper/capsicum (1 medium-size green, yellow, orange, or red bell pepper, sliced, diced, or chopped in bite-sized pieces).
I only had yellow bell pepper instead of green bell pepper. Making the best use of what I had this day 🙂
10: Stir fry till the capsicum gets cooked a little but still retains its crunchiness.
11: Add salt, sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and ½ teaspoon black pepper powder or crushed black pepper.
12: Stir fry and mix well.
13: Add the fried mushrooms.
14: Stir fry and mix well so that the sauce coats the mushrooms.
15: Remove and serve dry Mushroom Manchurian hot garnished with some spring onion greens and/or celery.
It goes well with any kind of fried rice. You can also serve it as is with your favorite dipping sauce.
FAQs
Sure! Simply swap in your favorite cup-for-cup gluten-free all-purpose flour alternative, and trade out the soy sauce for either tamari or coconut aminos.
Absolutely. I used white button mushrooms because they are easily available year-round, but feel free to substitute creminis, portobellos, oyster mushrooms, or shiitakes.
Just be sure to cut whatever variety into roughly bite-sized pieces so you can get all the flavors in one bite.
Since anything crispy never seems to last very long, I suggest eating this dish immediately for the best results.
However, if you have any leftovers they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Just note that they will not have the same light texture upon reheating.
More Mushroom Appetizers To Try!
Indo Chinese Recipes
Mushroom Recipes
Mushroom Recipes
Snacks Recipes
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Mushroom Manchurian
Ingredients
For the batter
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder or freshly crushed black pepper
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ⅓ cup water or add as required
- ½ teaspoon sugar or add as required
- salt as required
For frying mushrooms
- 250 grams white button mushrooms
- oil as required for deep frying or shallow frying
For mushroom manchurian
- 1 to 2 tablespoons oil
- ⅓ cup spring onions (finely chopped spring onion whites) or 3 to 4 small-sized scallions – reserve the greens for garnish
- 2 to 3 green chilies – finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons garlic – finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ginger – finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon celery – finely chopped, optional
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder or crushed black pepper
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or add as needed
- 1 bell pepper (small to medium-sized), green or red or yellow sliced, diced or chopped
- salt as required
Instructions
Preparing mushrooms and making batter
- Take all the ingredients for making the batter in a mixing bowl.
- Add ⅓ cup water and make a smooth batter. Not too thick nor too thin.
- Rinse the mushrooms in water a few times. Drain all of the water. Halve the mushrooms or quarter them if they are large. Trim off a small portion of the stalks and discard them.
- Heat oil for deep frying or shallo frying as needed in a wok or kadai.
- Let the oil become medium hot. Dip the mushroom in the batter evenly all over. Place them carefully and gently in the oil.
- Fry them till golden brown and crisp. When one side looks firm and light golden, turn over each mushroom piece and fry the second side. Turning over as needed fry the mushrooms until crispy and golden.
- Keep the fried mushrooms aside.
Making mushroom manchurian
- Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the spring onion whites and stir fry them for a minute on a medium heat.
- Now add the chopped celery, green chili, ginger, garlic and some of the spring onion greens.
- Stir fry these also for a minute on a medium heat.
- Add the black pepper, salt, sugar and soy sauce.
- Mix well. Add the fried mushroom to this sauce.
- Stir so that the sauce coats the mushroom well
- Serve dry Mushroom Manchurian hot garnished with chopped spring onion greens and celery.
Notes
- The black pepper, sugar and soy sauce can be adjusted to your taste preferences. So is the quantity of ginger, garlic and green chilies can be increased or decreased with your spice preferences.
- Use button mushrooms that have a white color and look fresh and crisp. Discard mushrooms that have a stinky smell or look black and are slimy to touch.
- If you like you can also add ½ to 1 tablespoons of tomato ketchup at the step when you add the soy sauce and rest of the seasonings.
- The recipe can be scaled to make a big batch for pot lucks or parties.
Nutrition Info (Approximate values)
This Mushroom Manchurian recipe from the archives first published in August 2012 has been republished and updated on November 2022.
Todas las recetas son una maravilla de experiencia de sabores deliciosos, gracias gracias!!!!
Thanks a lot and glad to know.
Hi
Thank you for your wonderful receipes. I have tried many and all turned out really well.
I had a question for you.
What is the difference between chilli and manchurian? Both recipes look similar.
TIA
Thank you. In manchurian tomato ketchup is added which is not added in a chilli recipe.
I made this today. I used oyster mushrooms which I just saluted with the Ingrients per your recipe without the maida and corn starch instead of deep frying. I’m not a big fan of deep frying or maida and corn starch. The rest of the recipe was followed to the letter. Had it with angel hair pasta. Was delicious. Thank you
Welcome Madhav. Glad to know your variation. Thanks for your positive feedback.