Bread Fruit Manchurian

This is a rare exotic dish that I had first invented way back in 1991 when I invited couple of friends for dinner at our newly occupied flat in Attavar Mangalore. I got a big bread fruit from my friend Kumble Srinivas Nayak's garden then. After making a few traditional dishes, I told Meena, I shall experiment and make manchurian with the remaining piece. It turned out good and our friends were fascinated to get a taste of, perhaps the first Bread Fruit Manchurian in the world!

Those days I was not perfect with my Indo-Chinese cooking. Nothing turned out like restaurants like Nanking, Hao Hao and Ting Hao made those days. However, over the years I improvised the skills and made them exactly like they make in restaurants. This manchurian is also authentic, for the added brown onion paste makes it very tasty. Skipping cornstarch while deep frying or shallow frying is deliberate, because bread fruit has natural starch within, that makes the pieces crisp and dry while frying and also blends well with the sauces. 

Those who prefer wet type manchurian with sauce may add 1 Tsp cornstarch dissolved in 30 ml water along with soy sauce and tomato ketchup. I have shown the steps to make wet type manchurian in this recipe article.

Enjoy the exotic dish and please leave a comment, in case you and your family members like it.

Ingredients:
Bread Fruit - 250 Gms
Oil - For deep and shallow frying
Salt - To taste
White Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp
Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1 Tsp
Brown Onion Paste - 2 Tsp
Green Chillies - 2 finely chopped
Ginger - 1/2" finely chopped
Garlic - 6-8 cloves finely chopped
Dark Soy Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Tomato Ketchup- 1 Tbsp
Spring Onion bulbs - 4-6 finely chopped
Onion Shoot - 2-3 stalks chopped

Method:
Shave the outer green skin, remove the center core and chop bread fruit into 3/4" thick pieces.
Deep fry the pieces in hot oil till crisp and golden.
Drain and keep aside.
Heat 2 Tsp oil in a wok.
Fry chopped spring onion bulbs, ginger, garlic and green chillies on high flamne for 1 min.
Add brown onion paste, Kashmiri chilli powder and salt.
Fry for 2-3 minutes, sprinkling little water from time to time.
Add soy sauce and tomato ketchup and fry for 1 min.
Add 2 tbsp water and allow the sauce to sizzle.
Now add white pepper powder and drop the fried bread fruit pieces and roll them in the sauce to coat them well.
Keep stir frying on high flame until the sauce dries up and sticks to the pieces with a glaze.
Garnish with chopped onion shoot and serve hot as starter or as main course with fried rice or noodles.

Note:
For wet type manchurian with sauce, add 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 30ml water along with other sauces before rolling the fried bread fruit pieces in sauce.