Paneer Manchurian, leaves 2.5 yr old Little A drooling. He loves Paneer in almost any and every form. I add it to his curries or blend it with mixed vegetables, make patties out of it etc. etc. I still remember the first time I introduced Little A to Paneer was in the form of a snack, Paneer Bites. He instantly feel in love with Paneer, then I started stuffing it in his Parathas or flatbreads and often added to his curries. I knew he was fond of noodles, everytime we went to an Asian restaurant he always wanted to enjoy his Noodles and Fried Rice. So This time I thought of giving Paneer an Asian touch and made some Manchurian for him. It’s not the typical Manchurian, soaked in sauces. It get’s too messy for 2.5 yr old. Although I still flavor it with sauces, I have kept it dry. Oh Boy!!!, it was all gone before I even finished making another batch. Little A and Dr.Mystery gave me a clean bowl back for a refill.
One can make Paneer Manchurian in so many ingredients, however I chose ingredients that were easily available in my refrigerator. Ofcourse I had to add the health quotient to it. All of you know by now I love to sneak in veggies every opportunity I get. So I did. Most of the times, I like to keep my cooking simple and quick with minimum number of ingredients.
Typically, this is a pan fried dish, just made with Paneer cubes, however I gave it my twist. Added veggies and instead of panfrying I am going to use the Appe / Aebleskiver pan. I like that with this technique of cooking, I made this guilt-free with just a 2-3 drops of oil. Another tweak to make it healthy is that I haven’t used any cornstarch, which personally I am not very fond of. I instead made use of rice flour to make sure my manchurian balls have the right texture and coating.
These are a perfect Indo-chinese party snack or starter. You can also make a more saucy version of the same. Customize it to your taste, sweet, tangy, savory, spicy or garlicy.
