This recipe for Manchow Soup, which has Indian and Chinese influences, is very popular. Serve this hot and spicy vegetable soup during the cold winter days as an appetiser or together with a major entrée such as hakka noodles or fried rice.
Manchow soup comes from Indo-Chinese cuisine. The vegetables are stir-fried, and aromatics and spices are added to a pot of boiling water or stock to prepare this dish, which is high in nutrients. This is done before the vegetables are stir-fried.
The mix of a smoky aroma, an umami taste, crisp vegetables and a great balance of all of the flavours is what makes this manchow soup so delectable. In addition, the garnishes are not the usual food, but rather fried noodles that are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, luring you to take another bite.
When trying to add flavour to a vegetarian dish, it is standard practice to utilise vegetable broth.
Ingredients
The majority of these ingredients are likely already in the homes of those who regularly prepare Chinese food.
You'll find a vast assortment of fresh veggies in this soup, including carrots, french beans, cabbage and bell peppers, to name just a few. Adapt the recipe to your preferences by increasing the number of vegetables to include mushrooms, sweet corn, etc.
A broad variety of vegetables, such as red cabbage, lettuce, zucchini, and radishes, pair very well with soups and flavours typical of Chinese cuisine. Hakka noodles used in manchow soup are another vital component.
You are free to use any kind of noodles made from whole grains, such as soba or udon.
The key to success is preparation.
Make your soup taste even better by chopping up some fresh celery and coriander leaves and adding them to it.
Onion, ginger, and garlic are all wonderful aromatics that can take a dish to a whole new level of flavour, even if it was the simplest of preparations. This soup has both onions and spring onions as an ingredient. Only the white parts of spring onions are used in the preparation of the soup.
This Chinese soup gets its signature umami flavour from the addition of soy sauce, which also lends it a savoury flavour. That may be replaced with the same amount of tamari, which can also be used.
Your meal might benefit from the addition of tofu, paneer or mushrooms if you want to increase the amount of protein it contains and give it a more meaty look and texture. Also, if you like, you may substitute cheese or pan-seared tofu instead of mushrooms in this recipe.
Recipe
Vegetable Recipe
• To get started, dice up all of the veggies very thinly and put them aside.
• Cook for a few minutes after adding the chopped fresh red chillies, garlic and ginger to the oil in a wok or skillet. In a pan, bring the oil to a moderate temperature over a short period of time. If you want, you may use fresh green chillies instead of the red chillies called for in the recipe.
After that, stir in some chopped onions. Cook for a few or more seconds after adding a little bit more oil to the pan.
Now is the time to add the French beans and mushrooms that have been sliced and diced very small. Prepare the mushrooms by sautéing them in a wok or wok pan set over high heat until the outside edges of the caps begin to brown.
You may also include shredded carrots, diced celery and finely chopped bell peppers in addition to these other ingredients (a kind of green bell pepper).
It is sufficient to stir-fry the ingredients at a medium-high temperature for three to four minutes. Add some soy sauce and some ground black pepper to the ingredients already there. Stir.
Sauté the veggies in a little water or vegetable stock while stirring-frying them.
To your liking, add a little bit of salt. Due to the fact that soy sauce already includes salt, you should begin with a lower quantity.
Bring the soup to a boil over a medium-intensity heat source.
Manchow Soup Recipe
• In the meantime, if the noodles have already been cooked, you should heat them in a big saucepan with oil heated to a medium-high temperature until they are crisp-tender. You have complete control over this stage.
• In a heated skillet, the noodles should be browned and crisped up. Make sure the remaining fried noodles are completely dry by patting them dry with paper towels.
• Meanwhile, i t is necessary to mix corn starch and water in order to get a smooth paste.
Corn starch may be used to make a paste, which can then be added to the soup.
While you stir the soup vigorously, give it some time to thicken.
• At the very last minute, stir in the vinegar. You may use either rice vinegar or regular vinegar. Put the burner out of its misery. After it has been mixed, you should taste the vegetable manchow soup. In the event that it is required, you may season the dish with salt, black pepper, soy sauce or vinegar.
• Put all of the ingredients into a big bowl and whisk them together until you get the desired consistency. Hot manchow soup may have fried noodles or coriander leaves added to it, or it can be served plain (cilantro leaves).
Variations of the Manchow Soup
• If you exclude fried noodles from the meal, it will be more nutritious. As soon as the broth has reached a boil, toss the noodles in while stirring constantly.
You can switch things up by creating a manchow soup using soba, udon or millet noodles instead of rice, if you want to spice things up a little.
While the vegetables are cooking, add additional sources of protein such tofu or paneer for a soup dish or a lighter dinner option.
• To prepare the soup, add boiling water or hot broth and stir it.
To season, add a pinch each of salt and pepper, as well as one teaspoon of chilli sauce.
• You should save some aside for later and use the rest as a topping for the noodles.
Serving Ideas
• Always start by tasting the finished product before making any changes to the flavour of the manchow soup. Mix one tablespoon of rice vinegar and one teaspoon of the liquid, and stir to combine.
• Make sure that each individual receives the same amount of soup by using a ladle to measure it out. To the dish, add chopped spring onion leaves, fried noodles and some salt and pepper.
• To begin the Indo-Chinese main course, such as vegetable hakka noodles and vegetable Manchurian or Schezwan fried rice or vegetable fried Rice, begin with an appetiser of vegetable manchow Soup.
In the midst of the day or at the end of the day, a bowl of soup is an excellent choice for a meal since it is both nourishing and filling.
• If you're going to serve it as a main meal, go for some fried rice or some noodle soup as a side dish.
It should be stored in the refrigerator for at least four days in an airtight container to retain its freshness. Make sure you have enough for the week by cooking a large pot of this soup. Although frozen noodles and other toppings could be added to the soup at a later time, it is important to keep them separate until then.
Pro-Tip
• Add the fried noodles to the soup just before it is ready to be served. In such a case, the noodles would end up being mushy.
Other vegetables, such as baby corn, mushrooms, and sweet corn, may be substituted in order to provide variety in the dish. Because of this, the flavour of this soup is much more robust. If you like a broth that is less thick, you may skip the cornflour entirely.
Replace the water with veggie stock.
Cooking Notes
• Even though we have included the vegetables that are often used in this soup, you are free to add or exclude others based on your preferences, even if we have included the vegetables that are typically used in this soup.
• If you want the dish to have more liquid, try reducing the amount of corn starch that you use.
After adding the corn starch slurry to the soup, stir for one to two minutes to break up any lumps that may have formed.
• Toss the fried noodles into the soup just before serving it . Because we do not want them to get mushy after being placed in the soup bowl, we need them to be crispy. Fried noodles are another option for a side dish that may be presented.
• To give the soup more of a kick, try seasoning it with some chilli oil or hot sauce.
• To prevent the noodles from clinging to one another while they are being cooked, use a pair of tongs to stir the mixture occasionally and separate the individual strands of noodles from one another. If you try to separate them after they have already crisped up, you will end up shattering the pan.
FAQS
Is it feasible to consume manchow soup without eating the fried noodles that come with it?
According to the majority of those who like this kind of soup and cooked it using the required manchow soup ingredients, the absence of fried noodles renders the dish unrecognisable as manchow soup. It won't have the desired flavour. You won't want to eat it any other way once you've had it with fried noodles.
You may use crispy baked noodles in place of fried noodles in your soup, if you choose to avoid eating fried noodles.
Is there a difference between corn flour and corn starch?
Both of these may be used in place of one another to get the desired consistency of the soup.However, you must not combine them with corn flour, which is technically maize flour but is more often known as corn flour.