Loaded with vegetables and overflowing with flavor, my vegetarian Manchow Soup recipe is easy. This hot and spicy Indo-Chinese soup is famous in India and best had as is or with your Chinese meals.
First rinse and chop all the veggies, mushrooms and keep aside.
Heat oil in a wok or pan and add the chopped fresh red chilies, garlic and ginger.
On low heat, sauté for 8 to 10 seconds and then add chopped onions or spring onions. Sauté again for a minute.
Now add finely chopped french beans and chopped mushrooms.
Stir fry on a medium to high heat till the mushrooms get lightly browned from the edges.
Then add grated carrots, shredded cabbage, finely chopped capsicum/bell pepper and celery.
Stir fry on a medium to high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
Once the veggies are stir fried for 3 to 4 minutes, then add soy sauce and black pepper. Stir to mix.
Making manchow soup
Now add water or veg stock.
Season with salt. Let the soup to come to a simmer on a medium heat. Keep a check on the amount of salt as soy sauce already has salt.
Meanwhile. Make a smooth slurry or paste of the cornstarch with water.
Reduce the heat to a low and add the cornstarch slurry or paste to the soup.
Mix very well and let the soup thicken by simmering on medium-low to medium heat.
Lastly add rice vinegar or regular vinegar. Turn off the heat.
Stir and check the taste of soup. Add more seasonings like salt, black pepper or soy sauce or vinegar if needed.
This is an optional step. In the meantime, if you have cooked noodles, first coat them with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch evenly.
Then add them to medium hot oil for frying.
Fry the noodles till they are crisp. Drain the fried noodles on kitchen paper towels.
Stir and serve Manchow Soup hot topped with the fried noodles.
You can also mix chopped coriander leaves towards the end or serve Veg Manchow Soup garnished with cilantro. Instead of coriander leaves, garnish with spring onion greens.
Video
Notes
For a very spicy taste in the soup, add more green chillies or red chillies. Alternatively add a spicy red chilli sauce. You can also increase the black pepper by a bit.
Opt to add the vegetables that you prefer. For some protein, add tofu or mung bean sprouts.
If you are not a fan of fried noodles, simply do not add them to the manchow soup.
Skip adding vinegar if you do not like its taste.
The recipe can be scaled to make for more servings.