Friday, July 25, 2008

Missing the chinese

Veg American Chopsuey has always been one of my favorite dishes since my college days in Goa. I suddenly started missing it a lot, may be bcoz I have not had it after I moved to Chennai, as far as 3 years back :( For some reasons I have not found this dish in Chennai’s Menu card.

Anyways, I decided to give American Chopsuey a try. I tried to Google for the recipe but they seemed very different from the ones I loved in Goa. So I decided to go by my instinct and try to make it from whatever I remembered of it. So I do not know how authentic this recipe is :)

Incidentally I have also come across a lil different (In fact very different) recipe for Hakka Noodles in a small restaurant here, Noodles floating in Milk puddle. When the waiter had placed our order on the table, we were shocked to say the least and thought he had a mistake in taking down the order. Later we were told, that slimy dish on our table was in fact our Hakka Noodles (:sigh).

Since then every time before ordering it, I ask them for the preparation of it.

American Chopsuey

Ingredients:
100 gm Noodles
Water to Boil
1/2 T Salt

Sauce:
2 Tomatoes
1 tsp Oil
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 T Corn flour
2 T Sugar
1 tsp Salt
250 ml Water

1. Boil the water in a vessel and add salt to it.

2. Add the noodles. Boil it till al dente (little kachcha). Do not over cook it. This should take 2-3 mins only.

3. Strain the noodles and wash it under running water. Sprinkle 1 tsp Oil over it to protect them from sticking to each other. Let them to cool.

4. For the sauce heat oil in a pan. Add black pepper, sugar, salt and the diced tomatoes. Cook for a min and add water to it. Make cornflour paste by adding 3 T water in it. After a boil, sim the gas and continue stirring as you add the corn flour. Cook for another 2 mins and the sauce is ready.

Tomato Sauce for Chopsuey
5. Heat oil in a wok. Fry the noodles till crisp. Remove it on a paper towel.

6. Once you are done place some of the fried noodle on each plate and press it against the plate, leading to the crumbling of the noodles a little bit, just for the ease while eating. Do not over do it, else you will land up with tiny bits of noodles.

Fried Noodles
Once done, heat the sauce a little and generously sprinkle it over the served noodles.

American Chopsuey
I liked it and was simple to make as well. But I would like to try the other ways of making it also. How do you make your chopsuey?

2 comments:

Arundathi said...

the best place (atleast for us) to get chopsuey is the Wonton Chinese Restaurant on Bawa Road in Chennai. I'm sure Cascade on Khader Nawaz Khan Road has it too. Enjoy.

Nidhi said...

Thanks for the info! Would try it out.