At around 13 years old, I learned how to make my first dish, chop suey! I still remember how my mom would brag about it when we had people over for dinner. On one occasion, my uncle Joel, who had just returned from working abroad, came over to eat dinner with us. My mom said, “Racquel made that chop suey, what do you think?” My uncle replied, “It’ s good! But the vegetables are a little overcooked.” I was downhearted after that. But he was right. If not for his honest criticism, my chop suey would probably be still soggy!
Ingredients:
- 8 oz shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 can young corn, drained
- 2 zucchini, peeled and chopped
- 5 oz snap peas (sitsaro)
- 5 oz button mushrooms
- 1/2 head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 cup red bell pepper, sliced thinly
- 1 tsp pepper
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- Olive oil
Directions:
- In a heated wok, add 3 tbsp olive oil and saute the garlic and onions.
- Add the shrimp and ginger. Cook for about a minute. (If you don’t want to overcook the shrimp you can remove them and bring them back for the last stage of cooking)
- Add the carrots and celery and cook for about a minute.
- Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another minute.
- Add the pepper, oyster sauce, and hoisin sauce.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in two tablespoon of water. Add this to the vegetables and mix until thick. (This will only take about few seconds).
- Serve while warm. Enjoy!
Note:
This dish takes about 10 minutes to cook. The only thing that needs preparation is the chopping of vegetables. Traditional chop suey has chicken livers and quail eggs. I’ve seen canned quail eggs, but personally, canned varieties just aren’t to my liking. And although chicken livers are good with this dish, I omitted them because my kids didn’t really enjoy them!
