I'm no cook. Just a teenager with fancy food cravings. Today I got no facts of stories to share. But one of my most favourite American-Chinese cuisines- Chop Suey! I didn't even know the name of this dish 6 months ago as it isn't that famous to be precise. Or even if it is, I personally never came across the name. My bad. And now it is one of my favorites. I would like to share the recipe with you all so that you can go try it yourself. And I will also share some tricks I personally adopt in order to make the near-to-perfect chop Suey without burning down the house. 

Let's start with what Chop Suey is. The name basically means “odds and ends” or in our simple language, it means leftovers. I don't know why tho. Practically it's some stir fried veggies with or without meat, coated in a yummy sauce served over a crunchy pack of noodles. 

For making Chop Suey, you can incorporate all your favorite veggies and stuff into it. I'm stating it the way I like. For my- style Chop Suey, you would need the following goodies for preparing the noodle. Pro tip: Always keep in mind to start with the noodle as it takes time. While the noodle is getting ready, you can go on with the other works as if your noodle is done before the gravy, it will lose it's crisp and the same way, if your gravy is done while your noodle isn't, the gravy will cool down. The timeline you can follow while making the dish goes like this: 

• Boiling the noodles
• Cutting and prepping the veggies and meat (if used). You can add prawns too. My personal favorite.
• Putting the noodle to get fried
• Stir frying the cut elements
• Making the sauce
• Checking the noodle and flip it to the other side if one side has turned golden-brown
• Mixing the fried veggies with sauce
• Serving the sauce coated veggies over the crispy noodle pack.

For preparing the noodles:

• Boil the noodles.
• Drain all the excess water and I prefer putting one or two cups of cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Add a teaspoon of oil and mix it so that the noodles don't stick to each other.
• Heat a pan with a generous amount of oil to deep fry the noodles.
• When the oil is hot enough, put the noodles together forming a nest. Let it fry till golden brown. Once done, flip it to the other side. Take it out on a tissue to drain the excess oil.

For the veggies, I prefer:

• Capsicum (Juliennes)
• Carrots (Juliennes)
• Cabbage (Shredded)
• Chicken (breast cut into thin pieces)
• Onions (slices thinly)
• Ginger (finely chopped)
• Garlic (finely chopped)

For seasoning these stuff, I use:

• 1 teaspoon chili flakes
• A little bit of white and black peppers
• 1 teaspoon Soy sauce (not much as it will turn it black-ish) just add for some flavour according to the quantity of the dish you're making.
• Salt according to taste. I'd say just a pinch as the sauces have added salt.

Process of cooking the veggies:

• Keep the flame on medium. Put the regular oil you use for cooking. You should know the quantity. 3-4 teaspoons should be good. Let it heat up.
• Chopped garlic goes first, following by the chopped ginger. Saute a little and add capsicum, carrots, onions and chicken together. Fry and cook still the veggies and chicken are perfectly cooked but still crisp. Don't make bharta out of them.
• Add all the seasonings and stir.

For making the sauce:

• Tomato ketchup
• Chili sauce
• Soy sauce
• Cornstarch
• Water

Process: 

• Keeping the flame on medium, add all the sauces in the pan.
• Add a little water to the cornstarch and mix to make a slurry and add it gradually to the sauce.
• The sauce with thicken. Keep the consistency you like.
• Once done add the veggies made earlier.

At last, serve the the gravy over the fried noodles hot and crispy. Many prefer having a poached egg with it. Go and try it!