Broccoli Manchurian - a guest Post for Vineetha's RUCHI

Happy New Year to all…is it ever too late to wish? Better late than never huh! Anyways, how have you all been doing?

Well if you must know  how we were, me and my family started the year being sick, with carried over illness from 2013, fever, coughs, cold, sinus attacks blah blah, it almost felt like I can’t remember the last time my family was healthy. We are all slowly getting back to health I would say. 
Can you believe I haven’t cooked a single dish all these days, except for rice porridge and thankfully we always have dosa batter on hand, so my little one survived on that and Manish(my hus) made some dal…yaay! I should teach him to cook more this year ;-) And have you heard of the crazy Minnesota weather this year? We are literally living in the Ice Age…I hate every bit of it, especially when I’m sick to my bones that I haven’t even checked my Facebook all these days…Whaaaat?? ;-)

Anyways, now that I’m feeling much better, let’s start the year by sharing shall we? So here I share a lovely recipe for Broccoli Manchurian as a guest post for my good friend Vineetha. This guest post has been long overdue ever since last September I guess and Vinee has been so patient with me. And if you don’t know the talented Vineetha behind the blog Ruchi, check out her super guest post that she wrote for me last year – this drool worthy Sticky Toffee pudding cake. Her blog is a huge collection of Kerala style recipes, several international cuisines and lots of gorgeous cakes – you must check out her cakes, they’re simply fab!  

This Broccoli Manchurian is very special for me coz it was made using our very own garden grown Broccoli…remember my dad’s veggie garden last summer. I must remind myself to do a full-fledged post on it soon.  

Anyways, we had grown abundant amounts of Cauliflower and Broccoli this year and I had chopped them up into florets and freezed them so that I can use them as needed.  And I did :-)

Though Cauliflower(Gobi) manchurain is one of my absolute fav appetizers of all time, I decided to give it a twist and make Broccoli Manchurian. Trust me it tasted just the same, mayb even better.  I prefer the dry version , but you can make the sauce thinner and make a gravy version as well.  

And for those who aren’t familiar with Gobi(Cauliflower) Manchurian, it’s a very popular vegetarian appetizer or side dish served in almost all Indian restaurants and definitely a crowd pleaser dish. It’s made by deep frying the cauliflower florets that's dipped in a semi-thick batter and then tossed to coat in a wonderful flavorful tangy-spicy sauce. Here I made mine with Broccoli florets.  It’s to die for, now go make it and eat it, you’ll love it!

This is what the batter fried Broccoli looks like just before being coated in that yummy sauce. Trust me, this tastes really good eaten just as it is but wait, that sauce makes it even yummier :-)

I made some simple Cauliflower Pulav and Raita to go with this scrumptious Broccoli Manchurian and it was a yummy yummy lunch!! 

They are best served immediately so that its still mildly crunchy yet starting to get soft from the sauce coated over the florets. This is how I like it. If you like it more soft then serve after few minutes. Oh! How I love this dry manchurain and I can eat the whole plate if left alone with it… ;-)

It’s a perfect appetizer for a party and is liked by kids and adults alike. Adjust the spice level for kids if you feel its spicy.  

What are you waiting for, hop over to Vineetha's space (click link) to get the recipe for this super duper dish and enjoy! Try it out and let me and Vinee know how it turns out and Have a beautiful year ahead with plenty to look forward to. See you all soon...

-Manju