The word “Manchurian” now refers to a generic dish made by chopping and deep-frying ingredients such as chicken, cauliflower, prawns, fish or paneer, and then cooking them in a gravy flavoured with soy sauce.
There is a dry and a saucy version of chicken Manchurian – the dry fritters are popular among drinkers as a bar snack. In the saucier version, the fritters are coated with a spicy gravy thickened with cornflour, and topped with spring onions. It is served like a curry, with fried rice or noodles as a base.
Recently, The New York Times called chicken Manchurian a “stalwart of Pakistani Chinese cooking”, saying that the dish came from “attempts at recreating the version served at Hsin Kuang in Lahore, Pakistan, in the late 1990s”.
The Indian community was immediately up in arms and could not digest the news. “Since when is this a Pakistani dish?” one reader wrote. “This is the real cultural appropriation,” wrote another.
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Though the Times report also mentioned that Nelson Wang, a third-generation Chinese chef who was born in Kolkata, is credited with inventing the dish in Mumbai in the 1970s, the damage was done. The writer, Zainab Shah (who has Pakistani roots), has since then altered her dish description, calling it “a stalwart of desi Chinese cooking” and crediting Wang with its creation.
“Manchurian sauce is the creation of Nelson Wang who is from Kolkata, and who started the most popular restaurant in Mumbai called China Garden in 1975,” says chef Rajesh Dubey, who manages popular restaurant brands in India including Mainland China, which serves Indian-Chinese food. His restaurants feature both chicken Manchurian and cauliflower Manchurian on their menus.
“This sauce is the base of all the Hakka cuisine in India and has become the staple of Indian Chinese cuisine,” he continues. “Basically, it’s a soy-based sauce with garlic and fresh chillies with chopped coriander. It’s a wonderful sauce created by migrated Hakka people of Tangra, Kolkata, [and is] a sauce which you will not even find in China.”
“Nelson Wang and the Golden Dragon Restaurant at the Taj Mumbai are both often credited with its origins in the 1970s,” says Kurush Dalal, a Mumbai-based food historian. “There is absolutely no single way of making it, just like most dishes made in the subcontinent,” he adds.
Historians point out that the Chinese first came to live in India in the 18th century – documents show how Chinese trader Yang Tai Chow arrived in Kolkata in 1778, and brought many of his Hakka and Cantonese countrymen to work on a sugar mill that had been granted rights by the British.
They started small eateries to serve their food to other immigrants. These later mushroomed into bigger restaurants, which served food that slowly fused Indian and Chinese cooking styles and took the salt and spices up a notch, to better suit the Indian palate.
“Much has been spoken and written about Indianised Chinese food, its roots and authenticity,” says Dubey. “But it’s clear that the origins of this cuisine lie in the immigration of Han or Hakka Chinese labourers to Kolkata, and subsequently to the rest of India. By the early 20th century, a Chinatown had developed in Kolkata, abuzz with tannery workers, shoemakers and dentists – but, most importantly, restaurateurs and sauce makers.”
Chicken Manchurian came about as the result of an all-too-familiar request of a diner at Mumbai’s China Garden restaurant, asking for something that was not on the menu.
According to lore, China Garden’s chef Wang took some chicken and deep-fried it, tossed it in a sauce with green chillies, garlic, soy sauce and vinegar and served it with fried rice.
“Thus was born a dish which we are sure, pound for pound, outsells any Chinese dish in India,” says chef Manish Uniyal, the executive chef of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Chennai.
“Chicken Manchurian is an Indochinese dish that’s the perfect example of how we Indians love to experiment with food, no matter if it’s ours or anyone else’s,” says chef Ashish Bhasin of The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel & Residence in Gurgaon, northern India.
“The dish has no real connection to Manchuria in China, but we’ve taken Chinese cooking techniques and blended them with Indian spices, to create a spicy and tangy dish that’s become a favourite among Indian foodies.
“Chicken Manchurian may not be authentic Chinese cuisine, but who cares? We’ve given it our own twist and made it a hit in India. It’s a great example of how fusion cuisine can bring together different culinary traditions to create something entirely new and delicious.”
Today, most Chinese restaurants in India have chicken Manchurian or cauliflower Manchurian on their menus, served with a simple egg-fried rice or Hakka noodles.
The dish remains one of the most popular items at Chinese restaurants across India, and still has cult status – whether it’s served in a restaurant, as a takeaway or from street food stalls. It continues to be the case even with the arrival of more traditional Chinese food, from mapo tofu to dim sum.
Anita Raj, a young advertising professional in Chennai, sums up why its popularity is so enduring.
“Indian Chinese is something unique and piquant, and chicken and gobi [cauliflower] Manchurian is one of its pillars,” she says. “There’s nothing like snacking on cold Coke and dry chicken Manchurian while watching a movie on TV.”
