Chicken Manchow Soup

Chicken Manchow soup is a flavorful and hearty indo chinese soup made using stir-fried vegetables, chicken, garlic & ginger, soy sauce and topped with crispy noodles. It has a mild spiciness from green chillies and ground black pepper.

This chicken manchow soup recipe is quite versatile and you could personalize it according to your preferences. Omit the chicken and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock to make a delightful vegetable manchow soup. Or, for a kid-friendly variation, exclude the green chilies to create a milder version.

Mention indo chinese food and I get excited! It is one of our favorite cuisine and the fusion of indian and chinese flavors make it lip smacking good!

Though it hardly snows, however winters in the valley can get pretty intense. This season, a bowl of this hot soup has been a regular on our table. It's easy to make and so satisfying on a chilly day. May I suggest another of our winter favorite? You will love this indian style chicken soup (shorba).

About Chicken Manchow Soup

Chicken manchow soup is a one-pot, indian chinese soup with a melange of textures from soft chicken bits, crunchy vegetables and crispy noodles. It looks very appetizing with all the colorful vegetables. The combination of indian spices and ingredients with chinese cooking methods (like stir fryig on high heat), give manchow soup its unique taste profile of smoky,spicy & savory umami flavors.

The soup is pretty easy to put togther. The only time consuming part is chopping the  the variety of vegetables. You could chop the vegetables a day ahead or as part of your meal prep over the weekend. Store them in an airtight container.

Or, you could use pre chopped vegetables from the store. I use a bag of shredded carrots all the time. With everything prepped, on weeknights, the soup simply comes together in 15-20 minutes.

Manchow soup is rich and flavorful and has a characterstic brown colored broth, which is quite similar to chinese hot & sour soup. The flavors of chicken manchow soup do overlap with hot & sour soup, however the former has ton of vegetables and isn't too sour. Machow soup has a subtle spiciness to it.

Lastly, I do believe that indo chinese dishes are best cooked using the chinese condiments from indian brands. Most indian grocery stores here in United States stock the different kinds of spice blends and chinese sauces that are specificlly used to bring that authentic street style or restaurant style indo chinese taste.

If you cannot find these indian brands, not to worry, if there is room for substitution, I have included my suggestions later in the post.

Ingredients

• Chicken - I use boneless chicken thighs chopped into small pieces. Chicken thighs make the soup really flavorful. You could also use chicken keema (ground chicken) if you have it at hand.
• Fresh Vegetables - I use cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, baby corn and green bell pepper. You could use green beans or broccoli as well.
• Aromatics - Build up the flavor base. You will need fresh ginger, garlic, green chillies, scallions (spring onions).
• Soy Sauce - The umami flavor and color of the manchow soup comes from soy sauce. I use dark soy sauce from Ching's brand.
• Green Chili Sauce - I use Chings brand green chilli sauce to add heat to the soup.
• Cornstarch (Corn Flour)- For thickening the soup and gives a smooth pourable consistency to soup. 
• Rice Vinegar - Or any vinegar that you use in your cooking. Adds the sour taste.
• Chicken Bone Broth - Or use chicken stock. Using stock really pushes the flavor of the soup. I have tried using only water but the version with chicken stock was better tastewise.
• Crispy Noodles- I use pre cooked fresh noodles (available in the refrigerator section of stores) and simply air fry them till crispy for topping. You could purchase crispy noodles from store or I am including the instructions about how to make crispy noodles with dry noodles.
• Spices - Ground black pepper & salt. For additional kick you could also add red chilli flakes.

Substitutions

Here are few of my ingredient substitution ideas. Please keep in mind that you will be able to recreate the flavors in my recipe using these ideas, however the taste and texture may vary slightly.

• Green Chillies - Use diced jalapenos or serraro peppers.
• Dark Soya Sauce - Tamari or regular soy sauce available in your local grocery store. You could use light soy sauce for a less pronounced color and flavor.
• Rice vinegar - Use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar if rice vinegar is not available.
• Green Chilli Sauce - Use sriracha sauce or any hot sauce with a similar thickish consistency.

Instructions

Make Crispy Noodles

There are a few ways you can make the crispy noodles depending on equipment at home and what kind of noodles you can easily find.

1. Use pre cooked fresh noodles. I use yakisoba noodles available in the refrigerator section of most american stores. These noodles work great. Layer the soft cooked noodles straight out of the packet on the air fryer basket. Spray with oil a few times. Air fry at 400F for 6-8 minutes. Keep an eye these brown pretty quickly. Once cooled, break into small pieces.
2. Use dry noodles - Cook the noodles in boiling water as per package instructions. Drain and then spread the noodles on a paper towel to dry for an hour or so. Sprinkle some corn strach on the dried noodles and then use air fryer or you could deep fry too.
3. Store bought crispy noodles - I have see crunchy noodles in asian stores as well as indian grocery stores, you can pick a pack on your next visit.

Note - Please don't skip the crispy noodles topping, they really add to the authentic taste of manchow soup.

Prep Vegetables & Chicken

4. Using a sharp knife, chop the washed and cleaned vegetables in a small dice. If possible, cut all the vegetables the same size
5. On another cutting board, cut the chicken into small dice. Try to keep the same size as vegetables.
6. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with cold water to make a slurry.

Note - Please make sure that all the ingredients are ready and measured out before you start cooking the soup.

Make Chicken Manchow Soup

7. Place a cooking pot on stove and pour oil. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped ginger, garlic, green chillies and scallions (white parts). Stir-fry on high for 20 seconds taking care that they don't burn.
8. Add the diced chicken now, sprinkle a litle salt and fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes or until its fully cooked.

9. Next, add all the diced vegetables(except the scallion green parts). Stir fry the vegetables together with chicken on medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until they look a little sweaty. We don't want to cook them down, they should have a bite.

10. Add the chicken broth (or chicken stock) and water next to the stir-fried vegetables & chicken. Mix in the soy sauce, green chilli sauce, and black pepper powder. Mix, taste and if needed, adjust the salt. Depending on the sodium in your chicken stock and salt in the soy sauce, adjust the salt level.
11. Bring the soup to a rolling boil. Once boiling, mix in the cornstarch slurry.

12. Let the soup boil for 2-3 minutes more to make sure that the corn starch is cooked. Don't thicken too much. We want the soup to be pourable. This soup isnt jiggly or too thick.
13. Switch off the stove. Mix in the rice vinegar, scallion green parts. You could also add some chopped cilantro if you wish.
14. Ladle into bowls and top with crispy noodles. Serve on its own as a light meal or with other indian chinese dishes such as chicken hakka noodles or paneer chowmein.

Recipe Tips

• Chop all ingredients before you start cooking. Measure the condiments as well. Once you start cooking, the process is quite fast on high heat. To preserve the texture of vegetables, avoid pausing to measure ingredients.
• If you want more protein in the soup, add a beaten egg towards the end and swirl around in one direction to make egg strands similar to egg drop soup.
• You could add small diced tofu instead of chicken. 
• If time allows, marinate the chicken in little garlic, ginger, black pepper and soy sauce for 30 minutes to 1 hour to bump up the flavor.
• I highly recommned using homemade or store bought chicken or vegetable stock for the taste similar to restaurant style manchow soup. You could add a bit of bullion paste or powder instead of chicken stock. In my opinion, just water gives a flat tasting soup.
• Reduce the amount of green chillies and green chilli sauce for a milder version. You can adjust the soy sauce and ground black pepper levels too as desired.