Is Manchurian chicken originated in China? Not quite. It is an Indo-Chinese dish.

This dish was created by the Chinese chef Nelson Wang from Calcutta, India. 

Chicken Manchurian is similar to other Chinese recipes, such as sweet and sour pork (Ku lo yuk /  咕噜肉).  It is deep-fried chicken doused in gravy consisting of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup.

This chicken Manchurian recipe has a much thicker sauce than other recipes, delivering a more intense flavor. However, since it is relatively dry, it is still crispy while eating immediately after cooking. Either way, you can make a drier Manchurian chicken or with more gravy.

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How to make Manchurian chicken

It takes only three steps to prepare Manchurian chicken. First, deep-fry the chicken, prepare the Manchurian chicken gravy, and douse the chicken with the gravy.

1. Marinate, then deep-fry the chicken

You can use chicken breast meat or thigh fillet to prepare Manchurian chicken. I use chicken thigh fillet because it has more flavor and will not become tough, even if slightly overcooked.

Marinate the chicken

• Cut the boneless chicken into one-inch pieces. The size should not be too small because it will lose its moisture quickly during deep frying.  As a result, the meat has already dry when it turns golden.
• Marinate the chicken with some salt and black pepper. Other recipes include ginger, garlic, chili, and soy sauce in the marinade. Although it is OK to do that, it does not seem necessary because the Manchurian chicken gravy has a strong flavor. 
• Marinating the chicken for half an hour should be sufficient as the chicken pieces are small. 

Prepare a batter

After marinating the chicken for half an hour, add an egg, cornstarch, and regular flour. The egg and flour will form a thick batter to encase the chicken pieces.   It creates a crust that protects the chicken from the hot oil’s direct heat during deep-frying and prevents it from getting dry.  You can add a small amount of baking powder to make the crust crispier and lighter. Please refer to the recipe below for the amount of each ingredient.

Deep-fry the chicken

The most practical method to deep-fry a small food batch is using a heavy-bottomed skillet or pan. First, I fill it with half an inch deep of fresh or used oil, which I previously used to deep-fry other food.

Next, heat the oil. How to know whether the temperature of the oil is suitable for deep-frying? In general, medium heat to high is ideal. You can use a kitchen thermometer to check the temperature (around 180°C/355°F). In practice, it does not need to be very precise. Therefore, you can estimate the temperature by visually inspecting it.

• If the oil is smoking, it means that it is too hot. The surface of the chicken will turn color quickly before the heat penetrates and cooks through the chicken.
• Place a wooden spatula or a pair of chopsticks into the oil. The oil temperature is perfect for deep-frying if you see a constant stream of bubbles rising around the wooden spatula/chopsticks.
• Conversely, if there are only a few bubbles, or not at all, the oil is too cold.  The chicken will absorb too much oil, forming a hard and less crispy crust. 

Once the meat has turned golden brown, remove it and drain it on a paper towel.

Note:

• We use the commercial electric deep-fryer in the restaurant to cater to the volume of orders. However, you need plenty of oil to fill the fryer, making it unsuitable for home use.  I have also tried using a smaller electric deep-fryer designed for domestic use, but the cleaning work after deep-frying makes it impractical for a small family.
• One crucial point is to stop the urge to crowd the pan with too many chicken pieces, although we want to finish cooking as quickly as possible. The batter will link the pieces together, which prevents them from cooking evenly.  Therefore, it is better to be patient and divide the chicken into two or three batches to deep-fry.  After all, it only takes about four minutes to deep-fry each batch.
• Since the bottom side of the meat is touching the pan, it is necessary to flip the chicken occasionally to ensure even cooking.  This step is unnecessary if you use an electric deep-fryer because the meat is suspended in the deep-fryer basket.

2. Prepare the gravy and vegetables

• The sauce ingredients for the Manchurian chicken gravy are ginger, garlic, chilies, tomato ketchup, light soy sauce, and vinegar.
• Minced ginger and garlic work well, but most Indian families should have a ginger garlic paste available anytime.
• As for chilies, I use store-bought chili sauce. You can use chili powder, chili flakes, chopped fresh green chilies, or a combination. You can adjust the level of heat accordingly.
• Tomato ketchup (tomato sauce) and light soy sauce are almost indispensable in this recipe. You can add some dark soy sauce to make the color darker. 
• Vinegar is optional, but it is an excellent addition to the gravy. Make sure to add some sugar to balance the acidity of the vinegar.  We use plum sauce instead of vinegar to prepare sweet and sour pork in Chinese cooking. I guess vinegar (and the green chilies for spiciness) are the main differences between the Chinese version and the Manchurian Chicken gravy.

I prefer to pre-mix these ingredients rather than add them to the wok since stir-frying is quick and continuous.

The vegetables

The common vegetables for Manchurian chicken are bell peppers, onions, and spring onions. I have also seen some recipes that include carrot slices.

The choice of vegetables is another significant difference between Manchurian chicken and Chinese sweet and sour pork/chicken, in which pineapple and cucumber are popular vegetables in the recipe.

Cut the bell pepper and onions into large pieces about the size of the chicken. However, you can cut the onion much smaller if you want to saute and sweat it with ginger and garlic longer.

Cut the spring onions (green onions) into small rings and separate the green from the white section.  Sprinkle the green rings before serving to garnish the dish, while the white section can be sauteed with ginger and garlic. Since I use onion in the recipe, the white section becomes unnecessary, and therefore I will reserve it for another recipe. 

3. Doused the chicken with the gravy

After sauteing the ginger and garlic, and stir-frying the vegetables, add the seasonings we have mixed into the wok to form the gravy.  Return the deep-fried chicken to the wok and douse the meat with the gravy and vegetables. Do not stir-fry the chicken for too long at this stage.  If you do this, the chicken will become soggy. We want to serve crispy chicken!

Of course, this is my interpretation of the Manchurian chicken, which might be influenced by traditional Chinese cooking, which is quite dry.  If you prefer it to be saucier, add more water while preparing the gravy and thicken it with cornstarch slurry.  You should do a taste test to decide whether to add more salt and other seasonings since there is more gravy now. Of course, the chicken will be less crispy when drenched in a large amount of gravy.

Now it is your turn to try it at home.  Most ingredients are common in the standard kitchen pantry, and it is a quick and easy recipe. Enjoy!

Note: Some recipes include chicken stock and chicken cubes, which I do not think is necessary. The chicken meat with other seasonings should provide the flavor without these additives.

Other recipes related to Manchurian chicken

Sweet and sour pork is a traditional Chinese cuisine with a universal appeal. The pork pieces are doused in a thick, spoon-coating sauce with a constant pull between sweet and sour. It shares some similarities to the Manchurian chicken.

Try this chili chicken recipe if you like Indo-Chinese dishes. I was surprised by the taste after my first bite of this hybrid dish. The result is that two culinary cultures collide, sparking a new combination of enticing flavors.

If you like chicken recipes, This Vietnamese-inspired pan-fried lemongrass chicken chop will guarantee to be a total crowd-pleaser. The almost universal appeal of the aroma of lemongrass will surely welcome by everyone in your family.