This recipe for chicken chop suey comes from cookbook author Deh-ta Hsiung, who writes that it is “the classical ‘Chicken Chop Suey’ dish that heralded Chinese food to the western world at the end of the nineteenth century…” – it is rather amazing to think that one of the world’s greatest cuisines should have been represented by a dish that did not even originate in China itself, but thousands of miles away in San Francisco, USA!”

Chicken Chop Suey serves 4

More Chinese Recipes

Ingredients:

4 – 6 ounces (115 – 175 grams) chicken meat, thinly shredded
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 egg white
1 tablespoon thick cornflour/cornstarch paste – (1 part cornflour with 1.2 parts cold water)
about 1/2 pint (300 ml) seasoned oil (see below)
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (optional)
1 tablespoon thinly shredded fresh ginger root
3 – 4 spring onions, thinly shredded
4 – 6 ounces (115 – 175 grams) bean sprouts
1 small green pepper, cored and seeded, thinly shredded
1/2 teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons stock
pinch of MSG (optional)
a few drops sesame oil

Preparation:

Mix the chicken shreds with a pinch of the salt, the egg white and about 1 teaspoon cornflour/cornstarch paste. Blanch them in warm oil, stir to separate, then remove and drain them.

Pour off the excess oil, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the wok, stir-fry all the vegetables for about 1 minute, add the remaining salt and the sugar, blend well, then add the chicken with the soy sauce and rice wine, stir-fry for another minute, and add the stock and MSG, if using; finally thicken the gravy with the remaining cornflour paste, garnish with the sesame oil and serve hot.

*How to season vegetable oil Pour about 1 pint (600 ml) vegetable oil into a pre-heated wok or saucepan over a high heat, add 2 – 3 small pieces of ginger root. In a few minutes, the ginger pieces should rise to the surface. Now watch the color of the ginger; when it turns from pale yellow to dark brown, turn off the heat and let the oil cool down a little before removing the ginger pieces. Then store the seasoned oil in a container.