American Chop Suey🍜

American chopsuey is essentially sautéed vegetables flavoured with sauces and thickened with cornflour served atop crispy fried hakka noodles. It is truly sumptuous treat that is both filling and tasty. My mom used to make chopsuey for me when i was a kid and i loved chopsuey. Every time we would go to china bowl i would always order chopsuey. One of my favourite dishes.

In this recipe i have tried to include all the details and various tips.

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INGREDIENTS-

Ingredients for 4 servings

Crispy noodles-

1. Boiled hakka noodles - 4 cups

2. Cornflour - 2 tbsp

3. Oil for frying

Chop suey gravy-

1. Carrots - 1/2 cup julienne cut

2. Onions - 1/2 cup sliced

3. Cabbage - 1/2 cup shredded

4. Capsicum - 1/2 cup julienne

5. Tomatoes - 1/2 cup (seeds removed and sliced)

6. Pineapple - 1 slice (cut in three slice and pieces)

7. Soya sauce - 2 tsp

8. Tomato ketchup - 3/4 cup

9. Green chilly sauce - 2 tsp

10. Red chilly sauce - 2 tsp (check notes for recipe)

11. Cornflour slurry - 1/4 cup

12. Sugar - 2 Tbsp

13. Salt to taste

14. Black pepper powder - 1/2 Tsp

15. Oil

16. Ginger minced - 1 tsp

17. Garlic minced - 2 tsp

18. Green chilly - 1/2 tsp finely chopped

19. Water

Red chilly sauce (homemade)

1. Chapata mirch - 4

2. Water

3. Oil

4. Red colour

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NOTES-

First we will boil our noodles. Take water in container. Let it come to a boil. Add 2 tbsp oil. Now add your noodles. Let them boil for about 7-8 mins till they are done 80%. Now take them out and wash in cold water. Sprinkle oil and mix the noodles well and spread them in a tray. Frying the noodles-

Take a small portion of noodles in a plate. Sprinkle cornflour in small batches to the noodles. Mix the cornflour with noodles like this.

Now in a kadhai add oil for frying. When the oil is extremely hot and little vapours start coming from it then we will toss the noodles into that.

Note- The oil should be really hot otherwise your noodles will be soggy and very oily.

So tossing noodles into the kadhai has a trick. You have to toss noodles from all sides and put it in little amounts. This will help you in getting evenly fried noodles.

Be very careful while frying them. Do not burn yourself.

Let it sit for few minutes until the bubbles disappear. Now turn the noodles using a tong and flip it.

This is how it should look-

While frying the second batch of noodles make sure the oil is hot. Do not add noodles in warm oil. The main trick to get crispy noodles is to fry them in really hot oil.

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For the homemade red chilly sauce-

Take chapata mirch and boil in water for approximately 10 minutes.

(Ignore the quantity in the picture)

Grind them in a mixer grinder. Now take a small kadhai and add 2 tbsp oil in it. Add the grinder chilly.

Cook the chilly paste for about 5 minutes until the oil combines. Now add red colour to the paste (a pinch in 1 tsp water). Now take it out and let it cool down.

Your homemade red chilly sauce is ready.

You can store this sauce for one week in the fridge if no salt is added. You can always use the store bought chilly sauce.

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For the gravy-

First chop all your vegetables and prepare everything.

Now take a kadhai and add oil. In that add garlic, ginger and green chillies.

Now add your cut onions and capsicum into it. Cook them for a minute.

After a minute add your cabbage and carrots to it.

Now cook them for 3-4 minutes until the cabbage turns a little transparent. Now add the tomatoes and pineapple into it.

Now add salt and black pepper to it. Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Now add approximately 3-4 cups of water.

Now we will add all the sauces into it. We will add tomato ketchup, soya sauce, red chilly sauce and green chilly sauce. At this point add the sugar also.

If you feel you have added less tomato ketchup you can increase the quantity.

I have also added a little red colour into it. Since i did not have spring onions i added coriander for the green colour look. Cook this for about 5 minutes till it comes to a boil.

Now when the gravy comes to a good boil we will add cornflour slurry.

So the cornflour slurry is poured in the gravy while stirring it so that it does not settle in the bottom.

Keep cooking it for a while until the gravy becomes really thick.

The chopsuey gravy is supposed to be really thick. If required add more of the cornflour slurry. Do not compromise on this part.

The chop suey is supposed to be on a sweeter side so add more sugar if required.

Serve it in a bowl/plate with the crispy fried noodles.

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