{"id":269196,"date":"2026-05-13T09:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/269196\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T09:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:31:10","slug":"the-fiery-pow-of-indo-chinese-manchow-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/269196\/","title":{"rendered":"The fiery \u2018POW\u2019 of Indo-Chinese manchow \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a couple weeks\u2019 back, I made a brand-new discovery: manchow.<\/p>\n

The soup, equal parts spicy and sour, is of Indo-Chinese origin, which makes it an ideal recipe for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, as well as an absolute s%@#-kicker of a sinus clearer come cold season.<\/p>\n

I got my first taste right here in town at Nawabi Hyderabad House<\/a>, a locally-owned franchise that\u2019s new to Orlando, but well established in other parts of the country and even abroad, though its first location popped up in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

It was here in Lake Mary, in between bites of deep-fried gobi and beautiful lamb biryanis that our server showed up with a steamy bowl of vegetarian manchow (the restaurant sells a chicken version, as well).<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure you want it spicy?\u201d she asked me.<\/p>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

I am sure she and several of the other staffers were taking bets on whether I could handle it.<\/p>\n

Hot stuff in Lake Mary at Nawabi Hyderabadi House | Review<\/a><\/p>\n

I did. I relished it, in fact. But be warned: it is a barn burner, even for me.<\/p>\n

The sour tempers the heat on this slurry-thickened soup, something that for me read like a merging of egg drop, tom yum and chilies grow in the garden of Satan himself.<\/p>\n

The sour comes courtesy of rice vinegar, but the below recipe from Dassana Amit of Dassana\u2019s Veg Recipes<\/a> notes that this can be subbed with white. I\u2019ve seen other recipes that suggested cider vinegar, too.<\/p>\n

I chose to use both green and red chilies for my first go-round in the kitchen and while it was quite spicy (probably too spicy for lots of you out there) it still fell short of the version they\u2019ve got at Nawabi, which will be my North Star as I continue to practice with it.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe manchow at Nawabi Hyderabad House in Lake Mary. (Amy Drew Thompson\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

There is absolutely nothing difficult about making manchow. If I had to list a \u201cworst part of,\u201d I\u2019d say you have to spend a lot of time chopping and shredding vegetables, but the result is a wonderful soup with veg in every single bite. Several, like the French beans and cabbage, retain their crispness, so there\u2019s solid texture even amid the silky.<\/p>\n

Fried noodles, the traditional topper here, adds a bunch more, even as they grow pleasantly soft over time. Textures change with manchow. And you can always add more.<\/p>\n

\"There'sThere’s nothing difficult about making manchow, but chopping and shredding the veggies is a little time consuming. (Amy Drew Thompson\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a glutton for punishment, so I went Sandra Lee semi-homemade and just bought a package of La Choy to toss in. Fresh cilantro, if you like it, is another must-include. But this recipe is versatile, as you will read. And the soup comes together very quickly once the cooking starts, a fantastic bonus for someone like me, whose chicken soup has to simmer at least two hours before I can enjoy a bowl.<\/p>\n

Next time, though, I\u2019m throwing in extra Serranos.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"I'mI’m not a professional chef and I’m okay with that. But feel free to fry your own noodles if you have the time and inclination! (Amy Drew Thompson\/Orlando Sentinel)
\nVegetarian Manchow<\/p>\n

Recipe courtesy Dassana\u2019s Veg Recipes (vegrecipesofindia.com\/veg-manchow-soup-recipe\/#wprm-recipe-container-138389<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n

1 tablespoon sesame oil or any other oil
\n1 teaspoon red chilies, fresh and finely chopped or 1 to 2 green chillies or fresh red chillies
\n1 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
\n1 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
\n\u00bc cup onions, finely chopped or \u00bc cup spring onion whites
\n\u00bc to \u2153 cup button mushrooms, sliced or chopped
\n\u00bc cup French beans, finely chopped
\n\u00bc cup cabbage, shredded
\n\u00bc cup carrots, grated or finely chopped
\n\u00bc cup green bell pepper \u2013 finely chopped
\n1 teaspoon celery, finely chopped (optional)
\n\u00bc teaspoon black pepper powder or white pepper powder, or to taste
\n2 teaspoons soy sauce, or to taste
\n3 cups water or vegetable stock
\n2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
\n\u00bd teaspoon rice vinegar or regular white vinegar, optional
\n2 teaspoons cilantro \u2013 finely chopped, or 1 to 2 tablespoons spring onion greens, for garnish, optional
\nSalt as required<\/p>\n

For the fried noodles \u2013 optional<\/p>\n

(Note from Amy Drew: I was lazy; I used La Choy!)<\/p>\n

\u2153 cup noodles, cooked
\noil for frying
\n1 teaspoon cornstarch for coating noodles<\/p>\n

Evenly coat noodles with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
\nAdd to medium-hot oil, fry until crisp, drain on paper towels.<\/p>\n

Instructions for stir frying veggies<\/p>\n

Rinse and chop all the veggies, mushrooms and keep aside.
\nHeat oil in a wok or pan and add the chopped fresh chilies, garlic and ginger.
\nOn low heat, saut\u00e9 for 8 to 10 seconds and then add onions. Saut\u00e9 for a minute.
\nAdd finely chopped French beans and chopped mushrooms. Stir fry on medium to high heat until\u00a0 mushrooms get lightly browned at edges.
\nAdd grated carrots, shredded cabbage, finely chopped green bell pepper and celery. Stir fry on medium to high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
\nAdd soy sauce and black pepper. Stir to mix.
\nAdd water or stock. Taste for salt, add if necessary. Let come to simmer over medium heat.
\nDuring Step 7, make smooth slurry with cornstarch and small amount of water.
\nReduce heat to low, add slurry, mix well. Allow soup to thicken over low to medium heat.
\nAdd vinegar. Turn off heat.
\nTaste for additional seasoning, such as black pepper, soy sauce or vinegar, and add accordingly.
\nIf making noodles yourself, coat evenly with 1 teaspoon corn starch.
\nFry to crisp over medium-hot heat.
\nDrain noodles on paper towel.
\nServe soup topped with fried noodles and a little chopped cilantro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just a couple weeks\u2019 back, I made a brand-new discovery: manchow. The soup, equal parts spicy and sour,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[104,4451,114,139,141,140,687,5961,109,76686,76687,106],"class_list":["post-269196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-entertainment","tag-food-drink","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-restaurants","tag-sentinel-restaurants","tag-social","tag-social-business","tag-social-entertainment","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}