chop suey

A standard meat and vegetable stir-fry technique, the legend and history of Chop suey is very interesting. Along with some meat, either chicken, pork or beef, a combination of vegetables are first blanched or steamed until half-cooked. Blanching the vegetables and immediately transferring and soaking them in iced water for a few minutes, stops the cooking process and retains their bright color. They are then removed from the iced water, drained and set aside. Using lots of colorful veggies in this dish makes it very attractive. The meat pieces or strips are browned in about two tablespoons of vegetable oil. As the meat pieces are cooking, a combination of lemon juice, soy sauce, worcestershire and oyster sauce ( may be optional ) black pepper, water and a little cornstarch are mixed together. This seasoning sauce is then slowly added to the browned meat and simmered. The veggies are then stir-fried with the flavored meat. Since the veggies are all cooked, the stir-frying takes only a few minutes.