Monday, January 21, 2013

Stir Fry A Chicken Chop Suey

Stir Fried Chicken
This is a recipe for the famous chicken chop suey that comes from a cook book written by Deh-ta Hsiung, who have written that it is the “classical” Chicken Chop Suey dish that heralded Chinese Food to the Western World at the end of the nineteenth century, and 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.
To prepare the chicken chop suey, mix the chicken shreds with a pinch of the salt, the egg white and about 1 teaspoon corn flour or 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, then 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, (MSG is optional), finally thicken the gravy with the remaining corn flour paste, garnish with the sesame oil and serve hot.
How to season the vegetable oil; pour about 1 pint (600 ml) vegetable oil into a pre-heated wok or saucepan over high heat, add 2 to 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.

The list of ingredients for the American Chop Suey includes;

•    1 tablespoon thick corn flour or cornstarch paste, (1 part corn flour with 1.2 parts cold water).
•    About ½ pint (300 ml)) seasoned oil
•    1 tablespoon thinly shredded fresh ginger root
•    3 to 4 spring onions, thinly shredded
•    4 to 6 ounces (115 to 175 grams) of bean sprouts
•    ½ teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar
•    1 small green pepper, cored and seeded, thinly shredded
•    1 tablespoon light soy sauce
•    ½ tablespoon Chinese rice wine
•    2 tablespoon chicken stock
•    Pinch of MSG (optional)
•    A few drops of sesame oil
•    ¼ egg white
•    1 Teaspoon salt
•    4 to 6 ounces (115 to 175 grams) of chicken meat, thinly shredded, with skins.

The above American Chop Suey can also be compared with preparing chop suey with a variety of recipes featuring pork, quail eggs and vegetables flavored with soy sauce, oyster sauce and other seasonings.   The mixture of pork and shrimp, plus the oyster sauce gives a different taste of chop suey that combines meat with seafood, a great taste to indulge with.  This type adds carrot, baby corn and snow peas as its vegetable additives to bring a new sensual taste to the diner.

Have a glimpse about Stir Fried Chicken here.

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