American Chopsuey

Its February already. One full month of 2015 is gone so that I have still not wrapped my head around my plan of 2015. But one good thing and something that is making me stick to some kind of blog schedule is “The Kitchen Divas”,  this is the 6th post of the year mostly thanks to it and the friends who keeping pushing me. Yes I am looking at you Hina and Archana, I know I freak you often with my last minute thingie but hey I do post on time. *wink wink*

So January went by and with the month changing the theme for the kitchen divas changed along. This month we will bring to you recipes for “Indian Chinese”. Now most of us have nostalgic memories of this cuisine (if we can even call it that). The street chowmein full of soya, the momo’s. I still remember the pork bao I ate in my Kolkatta trip on the roadside, the hot and sour soup. None of this is so called “authentic” items or “gourmet” items but yet most of them things very familiar to us.

I start my Indian chinese journey with something I loved all my life, American Chopsuey. Frankly I don’t even know if it’s Chinese or where does the word American come from in it’s name but I always ate this in the roadside vans selling “chinese” food so for me, that’s what it is.

Recipe – Chicken American Chopsuey

Serves 4

What I used

• 1 cup par boiled noodles
• 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced peppers
• 1/2 cup sliced onions
• 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup boiled and shredded chicken
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• Salt to taste
• Oil to deep fry

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup Chicken Stock
• 1/2 tbsp Corn flour
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 cup tomato ketchup
• Salt to taste

How I made it

• Heat the oil in a broad non-stick pan and add the onions and sauté on a medium flame till translucent, this will take about 1-2 minutes
• Add the vegetables and chicken and sauté on a medium flame for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add salt and white pepper.
• Mix all the sauce ingredients and add to the above and let it boil for about 1-2 minutes till it thickens slightly
• Heat oil for frying in a deep pan, when it heats lower the flame and add noodles little by little and fry till they turn golden brown. Be patient and don’t increase the flame if you want nice and crisp noodles. The frying of one batch will take around 3-4 minutes.
• Let the fried noodles completely cool and before serving add the prepared sauce over them. Enjoy hot

Note : If you want to make vegetarian version of this, skip the chicken and increase the amount of vegetables. Also replace chicken stock with vegetable stock or water

The “Recipe Name” is part of the endeavor to create a collection of recipes of Indian Chinese Recipes in collaboration with a few bloggers who share the same passion of cooking. Find more Indian Chinese Recipes by #TheKichenDivas. Follow the Pinterest board containing all recipes here

1. Vegetable Stock by Saffron Trail (http://saffrontrail.blogspot.in/)

2.Vegetable Manchurian with Fried Rice by FunFoodFrolic (http://www.funfoodfrolic.com/)

3.Crispy fried Mushrooms by WhiskAffair (http://www.whiskaffair.com/)

4. Chinese Noodle Soup with Vegetables by Archana’s Kitchen (http://www.archanaskitchen.com)