Cauliflower Manchurian in Air Fried

Ingredients:

1 head medium sized cauliflower broken into medium-sized florets, washed

oil for greasing, 2 tbsp chopped spring onion greens for garnishing

For the batter:

1/2 cup Chickpea flour Besan or use plain flour, 1/4 cup Rice flour corn starch also works great in place of rice flour, Paprika to taste, 1/4 tsp Turmeric for the color as air frying the manchurian will bring dull color

Salt Pepper to test, about 3/4 cup water or as needed.

For the sauce:

1/2 cup Tomato pure

e or sweet & sour sauce tomato ketchup can be used too,

1 tbsp red chilli or hot sauce, 2-3 tbsp soy sauce or 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp garlic paste, 1 tbsp ginger paste, 1/4 cup celery finely chopped, if available (Celery salt can be used as well), 1/4 cup Spring onion finely chopped, if desired 1 tbsp corn syrup or corn starch dissolve with water optional-Arrowroot powder can be used to enhance the taste and texture of gravy and also good for heath. salt if needed only

Instructions:

Mix together all the ingredients for the batter in a bowl. Add the water carefully so that batter has a reasonably thick coating consistency. Preheat the air fryer at 350F for 3 minutes. Mix cauliflower florets with prepared batter and make sure they're well coated with the batter. Carefully drop the batter coated florets, as one "lump" into the air fryer pan in a single layer. Spray or grease batter coated cauliflower florets with oil. Air fry for about 15 minutes shaking in between after about 8 minutes, till they're crisp and a nice brown in co

lour. Remove from the air fryer pan when done and follow the same procedure for the remaining batch. Do this air frying no more than about half an hour before serving, as these cauliflower fritters tend to lose their crispness after a while. To keep them crispy for later use, I turn on my toaster oven on lowest heat and spread all the fritters in a single layer and it stays crispy anytime you take them out.

For making the sauce:

Take medium size of pan and heat of oil for making sauce. When the oil is hot enough, add spring onion fo

llowed by ginger, garlic and celery. Add salt. Sauté all above ingredients till oil separates. In mean while mix corn starch with 1/4 cup of water and keep aside. Add Tomato Sauce, chili & soy sauce. Cook for another minute or so. Add corn starch mixture to the sauce and cook for another minute or so. Turn off the stove and keep the sauce on side. This sauce should be a bit on the thicker side.

To serve:

I prefer to mix cauliflower with sauce right before serving.

Place the fried cauliflower dumplings in a serving bowl and pour the sauce over the dumplings evenly covering them completely. Garnish with chopped spring onion greens and serve warm.