Chopsuey

To give a bit of just about self, I would say I can never be a Chinese fanatic (sorry, for the lovers, but that’s the irony!). But what lines my plate of Chinese is the American chopsuey! I visit the Chinese restaurants for only one sole thing and that is this Chopsuey. I remember my first lick of it when I was 7 or 8 years old, and I was served with this dish on one of my weekend escapes to Shillong! I first had it in a restaurant of the hotel ‘Pine Wood’ and since then, the taste had stuck in some corner of my tongue. Amidst this quarantine, I was wishing to have it from my favourite Chinese house, but it wouldn’t have been possible. So today, I planned to cook it in Shweta’s cookhouse instead! Usually Chopsuey has a sweet and tangy taste of tomatoes, but I love my Chopsuey with a hot flavour. So I add on this spicy flavour to it with whatever ingredient is available to me at the time, be it garlic chilli paste or anything of that sort.

So here’s how I made it-

Ingredients:

200 gms noodles ( boiled till al dante)

Sliced vegetables ( cabbage, carrots bell peppers)

2 tsp chopped ginger

2 tbspn chopped garlic

2 tsp sugar ( can be adjusted according to taste)

1 tsp vinegar

1tsp soya sauce

Salt to taste

2 tsp tomato ketchup

2 tsp red chilli sauce

2 tbspn cornflour + 2tsp water ( made into slurry)

Oil for frying + for sauce

Approximately 1.5 cups of water for gravy

Method

Drain the boiled noodles and let the water drain completely. Heat oil in a pan and fry the noodles. ( Take some boiled noodles in your hand and shape it like a nest and fry). Drain excess oil on a kitchen napkin. In another pan heat 2 tbspn oil, add the chopped ginger and garlic. Saute for 2 mins and then add hard vegetables like cabbage and carrot. ( You can also add the vegetables like babycorn, Mushrooms. Pineapple tastes awesome. Add sprouts for some extra crunch and tofu for that protein). Saute for a while and then add the peppers. Sprinkle salt n pepper. Add all the sauces and sugar, mix well. Now add water.( Around 1.5 cups or accordingly). Let it boil. Now add the cornflour slurry. Let it thicken. You can add in some more cornflour slurry if required.

In a serving bowl put the fried noodles and top it with hot gravy.

Good food= Good mood