Squid Manchurian

Manchurians, with a blend of Indian and Chinese cuisines, are a lovely and favourite starters when you are in a big restaurant or just hang around with friends to get the street food.
Its one of my family's favourite and my mil had once called me from India just to get the recipe for it.

This Squid Manchurian is what I came up with when I discussed the day's mealplan with a husband who needs varieties in food and who encourages and gives plenty of ideas! You dont seem to be alone in wondering what to serve for the dinner isnt it :)..... Wanted to try out squids for a long time and brought some, when on the way, my hubby suggested me, "hey, why dont you try making Manchurian with it". The idea was not bad at all. But i was not quite sure how would it turn out to be, as i was running out of time and had to prepare a sidedish for the Fried rice quickly and no time for backup. But he encouraged me to proceed with it without any sort of fear. He was absolutely right ! It was so delicious that I cant describe more.

Ingredients
For frying the squids
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Chilli powder - 1 tsp (according to your desired taste)
Salt (desired taste)
Water -sufficient enough to form a thick batter of flowing consistency.
Oil for deep frying.
For the sauce
Squids - 200 gms
Spring onions - 1/2 bunch or normal onions - 2 (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1 inch size, crushed or finely chopped
Green chillies - chopped, required according to your desired taste
Soya sauce - 1/4 cup
Tomato ketchup - 1/4 cup
Cornstarch - 1 tbsp, mix with water to make a paste.
Water - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Corriander for garnishing
Lemon juice for extra taste.



 Preparing the sauce 
1. Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions until transparent.
2. Add the ginger, salt, green chillies, soya sauce and tomato sauce and a little water (1/4 cup) and mix well.
Please check the taste. If the sauce has too much tomato taste, add a little more soya sauce. The end result should have the soya sauce as a dominant taste, and which gives it a characteristic Chinese taste. If the Manchurian becomes a little dry, then add water, adjust it with soya sauce and ketchup. There are no hard and fast measurements to it. Your tongue is the best critic ! 
3. Cover the pan with a lid and set aside.

Preparing the squids
1. Clean and cut the squids to ring shapes. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, sift the flour and add chilli powder, salt, water and mix well to form a smooth thick batter of flowing consistency. The batter should not be too watery !
3. Heat the oil in a pan.
4. Dip and immerse the squids one by one into the prepared batter to coat them completely (just like you do for bajjis or pakoras). Fry them in the oil until golden brown.
5. Remove the squids and drain the excess oil in a kitchen tissue.
6. Immediately put them into the prepared sauce, which should still be warm.(You could reheat it shortly before mixing it with the squids).
7. Cook and mix them all together in a medium flame for a minute.
8. Garnish with chopped corriander with a few drops of lemon squeezed.
Serve the Squid Manchurian immediately with Rotis or Fried rice.

Tips :
1. You could alternatively buy the readymade frozen squids which are spiced up already and meant for frying and skip the batter preparation totally. This saves a lot of time and you get more crispier squids.
2. The procedure is the same for Chicken Manchurian or Gobi Manchurian for veggie lovers. Replace the squids with your preferred choice.

This recipe goes straight to the Combo meal.