Aloo Manchurian is an interesting Indo-Chinese version of the regular Manchurian we eat. It is an easy and much quicker recipe than the classic one, though very similar.


Indo-Chinese fusion recipes have now become part of every Indian Millenial palate. Manchurian here in India is street food. However, it is considered part of every household in India. Surprisingly, we Indians have always been a fan of Chinese street food.

This dish is an excellent side dish and an appetiser that can replace the classic Manchurian or its cauliflower counterpart. Aloo Manchurian is a perfect dish with the Indo-Chinese fried rice recipe. And the best part is you do not need to worry about the dumplings getting hard like in original Manchurian recipes.

Why do we need to boil and then deep fry potatoes?

Aloo Manchurian, as the name suggests, contains potatoes primarily as the main ingredient. Therefore, boiling and then deep frying potatoes is a standard procedure we need to follow. In contrast, we make cabbage or carrot balls in regular dry Manchurian. We regularly eat them in restaurants and on the streets. My point is the Manchurian that we all eat contains grated vegetables.

On the other hand, our aloo Manchurian doesn’t contain grated vegetables. So instead of vegetables, we will use boiled and deep-fried potatoes. Now the reason why we need to boil and deep fry is part of the process. Directly frying potatoes might leave them uncooked; hence, first a little boiling and then frying.

One more thing, don’t boil and make them soft. It would be best if you boiled potatoes, so they don’t become soft and neither did they remain raw. If your potatoes aren’t evenly boiled, don’t worry about them because deep frying will remove the natural raw taste.

All in all, boiling and deep frying are essential to prepare potatoes for further cooking.

The taste and texture of the final dish

I love this dish because it contains a variety of flavours. However, there are three prominent tastes you will get into the final dish: sweet, sour and spicy. They are apparent because of tomato sauce, vinegar, soya sauce, red chilli sauce, black pepper and other items.

Then you have vegetables like capsicum, spring onion, regular onion and potatoes to enhance the taste. So the bottom line is your aloo Manchurian will be mildly teekha, a little bit khatta and meetha.

Okay, now, let’s talk about the texture. It is similar to the street-style Manchurian we eat. Dark colour with chopped spring onion sprinkled on the top. All this tempts you to ask for more. In short, your final dish’s taste, texture and aroma are precisely like the one you eat outside. I guess your homemade version is better compared to the street style.

Aloo Manchurian Extra Shots

Both the item list and the recipe is lengthy. Hence, you need quick tips to help you get better results. Here they are.

  • Boil potatoes only until they are medium soft. Please don’t make them too soft.
  • Semolina will give a crispy outer coating; hence don’t skip or replace it.
  • All-purpose flour will help the batter stick to boiled potatoes. Don’t skip either.
  • If time permits, keep the potatoes in the fridge for 30 minutes. They will fry better.
  • Add soya sauce and red chilli sauce as per taste. You can alter their quantities.
  • Corn flour slurry is used to thicken the recipe. You can skip corn flour.
  • If spring onions aren’t available, then sprinkle chopped coriander.
  • You can give any shape to the potatoes, but the one we did is an easy choice.
  • Add Kashmiri red chilli powder to get a brighter colour in the batter. It is optional, though.
  • Rice flour can be a substitute for corn flour in case you do not have corn flour. It will assure crispiness.
  • You can substitute red chilli sauce with schezwan sauce.
  • Use all-purpose flour to get thickness in the gravy if you cannot make cornflour slurry.
  • If you want, use a little bit of sesame with the potatoes and saute for a minute.

Aloo Manchurian FAQs

Can we skip boiling and directly fry potatoes?

If you directly fry potatoes instead of boiling them, there are chances the potato will remain raw. Moreover, they will become hard after frying. Hence, boiling them first and then frying them is essential.

Why do we need to use all-purpose and corn flour together?

Make sure that the batter is well coated on the potatoes. In hot oil, the batter will quickly lose and shatter. Hence, we are using both flours simultaneously. However, you can skip either of them by increasing the quantity of the other one.

Can we skip ginger, garlic and onions?

You can skip it, but it is not advisable. Skipping all three of them at one will reduce the intensity of the flavours. You will complete the recipe but won’t get the exact taste. Hence, don’t skip unless necessary.

Can we replace vinegar with lemon juice?

No, not here. Manchurian recipes require vinegar and not lemon juice. It is because vinegar has a potent sour taste and intense aroma. These qualities of vinegar make it edible.

Can we skip tomato sauce because we have red chilli sauce?

The Tomato sauce I have used is sweet to compensate for the extra hot and spicy flavours. On the other hand, the red chilli sauce is not sweet but spicy. Hence, it depends on your taste whether you want to skip either. If given a choice, I would skip tomato sauce.

Go ahead and give the regular potatoes a delicious twist.