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The sumptuous one-dish meal is inexpensive, filling, nourishing and not too exotic
The Americans take pride in their chop suey that is claimed to be a creation of immigrants from the Orient to the New World. Nowadays, this dish finds a respectable place on most Chinese restaurant’s menu cards. Memories of the Good Earth or even Suzie Wong are seldom revived when the dish is ordered primarily to ensure a sumptuous one-dish meal that is inexpensive, filling, nourishing and not too exotic. Recently, on a trip home to the hills, we stopped over at the Lee’s Kitchen, a delightful little eatery, near Kathgodam, overhanging the gurgling Gaula river and were absolutely delighted by their chef’s rendering of it. Incidentally, Lee’s family is not run by any Nepali-Sikkim-refugee Tibetan but belongs to an old Chinese family that had settled in Nainital during the British Raj. The family is remembered nostalgically by old timers as shoe-makers of great distinction. One of the younger Lees has trained as a professional chef and served in the Taj or Oberoi chain of hotels. What we were reminded was that how easy is the chop suey to prepare at home and how wonderfully it lends itself to improvisation. You can make do literally with whatever you have in the larder. Just ensure that you don’t run out of soya and chilli sauces! The junk food addicted grandchildren at home aren’t missing their two-minute magic noodles either!
Chopsuey
Sprouts (blanched and chopped) 100 gm Noodles (optional, prepared as per instructions on the pack) 50 gm Mushrooms (wiped clean and sliced) 50 gm Green peas (shelled) 50 gm Tomatoes (medium-sized, diced) two Spring onions (chopped, including the greens) two Carrot (medium-sized scraped and cut in thin rounds) one Egg one Garlic cloves (crushed) 1-2 Soya sauce 2 tbsp Chilli sauce 1 tsp Oil 2 tbsp A small head of cabbage (shredded) A small cucumber (cut in bite sized pieces) A handful of beans (strung and cut in diamonds) Salt to taste Method Heat oil in a shallow wok-like karahi and put the crushed garlic in it. After 30 seconds, put the vegetables in the following order — carrots, peas, mushrooms, beans, spring onions, cabbage, cucumber, sprouts and tomatoes. Add noodles if using. Raise the flame to high and stir-fry briskly for a minute. Pour the soya sauce and chilli sauce. Cover and cook on medium low heat for about two to three minutes. Toss well to mix, adjust the seasoning and garnish with a double fried egg.
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Chindian is an idea whose time has come. Or, at least, this is what our ‘know it all, all the time’ friends tell us. They, of course, have economy, strategy and domination of Asia in mind. As far as we are concerned, lovers of food had long ago accomplished this fusion. We have, in past, talked about Gujarati, Punjabi, Madrasi and other Indian-Chinese delicacies that have in this land put to shade the authentic Chinese — Schezhwan, Cantonese and Beijing variety. We have always felt that the purists (read food snobs) look down on the desi Hindi-Chini culinary repertoire oblivious of the fact that national or regional taste is no less important than national interest.
Ingredients