Loaded with vegetables and overflowing with flavor, my vegetarian Manchow soup recipe is super easy to make, especially with my step by step photos and video. This hot and spicy Indo-Chinese soup is popular in India and is a favorite in our household. I can’t wait to show you how to make this simple and yet delicious Manchow Soup!
What is Manchow Soup
If you’ve never heard of Manchow Soup, you’re in for a treat. This vegan soup is spicy, with a thick broth, yummy fried noodles and a bunch of different stir fried vegetables. It is simply delicious. In fact, aside from Hot and Sour Soup and Tom Yum Soup, manchow is one of our favorite dishes to order at Chinese restaurants or for takeout.
An assortment of vegetables are chopped finely and stir-fried, then added to a thick, savory broth flavored with soy sauce and rice vinegar and topped with crispy fried noodles. It is a delightful starter for an Indo-Chinese feast, but also makes for a lovely, light meal on its own.
This is also a very easy recipe, requiring just 15 minutes of prep and about 30 minutes of cook time. That’s right, friends. You can get this deeply satisfying, veg-packed meal on the table in under an hour. I’d call that a weeknight winner!
I also love how customizable this soup recipe is. While I opted to add mushrooms, you can easily swap in tofu or sprouts. I added fried noodles to make this a restaurant-style recipe, but you can opt to omit them for a healthier meal. You can also decide to make your soup broth more thick or thin depending on how much cornstarch you add.
Now that you know all the virtues of manchow soup – fast, easy, vegan and customizable – it is time to get cooking. Meet me in the kitchen!
How to Make Manchow Soup
Prepare and Stir Fry Veggies
1. First chop all the veggies and set them aside. Feel free to add vegetables you like. I have made the soup with these veggies and herbs:
- ¼ cup finely chopped onions or spring onion whites (scallion whites)
- ¼ to ⅓ cup sliced or chopped button mushrooms
- ¼ cup finely chopped french beans
- ¼ cup shredded cabbage – red/purple or green
- ¼ cup grated carrots
- ¼ cup finely chopped capsicum (green bell pepper)
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped celery, optional
- 1 to 2 fresh red chilies or green chilies – finely chopped, about ½ to 1 teaspoon
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
2. Heat oil in a wok or pan and add the chopped ½ to 1 finely chopped red chilies, 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic and 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger.
Sauté for 8 to 10 seconds on a low heat.
Note: You can add green chilies instead of fresh red chilies.
3. Then add ¼ cup chopped onions or spring onion whites. Sauté again for a minute on low to medium-low heat.
4. Now add ¼ cup finely chopped french beans and ¼ to ⅓ cup sliced or chopped button mushrooms.
Stir-fry on a medium to high heat till the mushrooms get lightly browned from the edges.
5. Lower the heat and add the following ingredients:
- ¼ cup shredded cabbage
- ¼ cup grated carrots
- ¼ cup finely chopped capsicum (green bell pepper)
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped celery, optional
6. Increase the heat. Stir-fry on a medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper powder and 2 teaspoons of soy sauce. Stir to combine.
Make Veg Manchow Soup
7. Add water or Vegetable Stock to the stir-fried veggies. Stir and mix.
8. Season with salt. Don’t go crazy with the salt here, as soy sauce already has salt in it.
9. Allow the soup to come to a simmer on medium heat.
12. Meanwhile, make a smooth slurry of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (a.k.a. corn flour) and 2 tablespoons of water.
13. Reduce the heat and add the cornstarch slurry to the soup.
14. Stir thoroughly and let the soup thicken. Simmer on a medium-low to medium heat.
15. Lastly, add ½ teaspoon of rice vinegar. Switch off the heat.
Stir and taste your veg manchow soup. Add more seasonings like salt, black pepper, soy sauce or vinegar if required.
10. While the soup is simmering – if you have cooked noodles, then first sprinkle on them 1 teaspoon cornstarch on ⅓ cup cooked noodles. Mix evenly.
Ensure that the noodles are at room temperature or cold before you mix the cornstarch and begin the deep frying.
Then add them to medium hot oil for frying. This is an optional step.
11. Fry the noodles till they are crispy, then drain on paper towels.
16. Stir and serve Manchow Soup hot, either topped with fried noodles or simply garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro leaves) or chopped spring onion greens.
You can also opt to add both the coriander leaves and spring onions greens as shown in the video.
Serve Manchow Soup as a starter with any Indo-Chinese main course like Hakka Noodles, Veg Noodles, Veg Fried Rice.
You can also serve it as a light meal on its own. Enjoy!
FAQs
I used red cabbage in the recipe photos above, which imparts a deep red hue to the broth. If you use green cabbage, your soup will not have the same deep color, but it will still taste delicious!
While I love the flavor and texture that mushrooms give this soup, you can easily omit them. Feel free to swap in some firm tofu for a bit of texture and protein, or simply add other veggies instead.
If corn is not part of your diet, try replacing it with arrowroot starch/flour instead or tapioca starch.
More Soups To Try!
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Manchow Soup Recipe | Spicy Veg Manchow Soup
Ingredients
For manchow soup
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil or any other oil
- ½ to 1 teaspoon red chilies – fresh and finely chopped or 1 to 2 green chillies or fresh red chillies.
- 1 teaspoon ginger – finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic – finely chopped
- ¼ cup onions – finely chopped or ¼ cup spring onion whites
- ¼ to ⅓ cup button mushrooms – sliced or chopped
- ¼ cup french beans – finely chopped
- ¼ cup cabbage – shredded
- ¼ cup carrots – grated or finely chopped
- ¼ cup capsicum – finely chopped, (green bell pepper)
- 1 teaspoon celery finely chopped, optional
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder or white pepper powder, add as required
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce or add as required
- 3 cups water or Veg Stock
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour) dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon rice vinegar or regular white vinegar, optional
- 2 teaspoons coriander leaves – finely chopped, (cilantro) or 1 to 2 tablespoons spring onion greens, for garnish, optional
- salt as required
For the fried noodles – optional
- ⅓ cup noodles – cooked
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch – for coating noodles
- oil for deep frying, as required
Instructions
Stir frying veggies
- First rinse and chop all the veggies, mushrooms and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a wok or pan and add the chopped fresh red chilies, garlic and ginger.
- On low heat, sauté for 8 to 10 seconds and then add chopped onions or spring onions. Sauté again for a minute.
- Now add finely chopped french beans and chopped mushrooms.
- Stir fry on a medium to high heat till the mushrooms get lightly browned from the edges.
- Then add grated carrots, shredded cabbage, finely chopped capsicum/bell pepper and celery.
- Stir fry on a medium to high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Once the veggies are stir fried for 3 to 4 minutes, then add soy sauce and black pepper. Stir to mix.
Making manchow soup
- Now add water or veg stock.
- Season with salt. Let the soup to come to a simmer on a medium heat. Keep a check on the amount of salt as soy sauce already has salt.
- Meanwhile. Make a smooth slurry or paste of the cornstarch with water.
- Reduce the heat to a low and add the cornstarch slurry or paste to the soup.
- Mix very well and let the soup thicken by simmering on medium-low to medium heat.
- Lastly add rice vinegar or regular vinegar. Turn off the heat.
- Stir and check the taste of soup. Add more seasonings like salt, black pepper or soy sauce or vinegar if needed.
- This is an optional step. In the meantime, if you have cooked noodles, first coat them with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch evenly.
- Then add them to medium hot oil for frying.
- Fry the noodles till they are crisp. Drain the fried noodles on kitchen paper towels.
- Stir and serve Manchow Soup hot topped with the fried noodles.
- You can also mix chopped coriander leaves towards the end or serve Veg Manchow Soup garnished with cilantro. Instead of coriander leaves, garnish with spring onion greens.
Video
Notes
- For a very spicy taste in the soup, add more green chillies or red chillies. Alternatively add a spicy red chilli sauce. You can also increase the black pepper by a bit.
- Opt to add the vegetables that you prefer. For some protein, add tofu or mung bean sprouts.
- If you are not a fan of fried noodles, simply do not add them to the manchow soup.
- Skip adding vinegar if you do not like its taste.
- The recipe can be scaled to make for more servings.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Manchow Soup recipe from the blog archives first published in November 2014 has been updated and republished on December 2022.
Yummy 😋..my kids really love this soup
Nice to know and thanks for sharing.
very tasty – i loved it
All the Recipes really tasty. Making at home seeing your recipes
Thank you.