Chop suey

Chop seuy is an American-Chinese stir-fried dish where variety of vegetables’ are stir fried with meat, quail eggs and seafood such as shrimps. It is really nutritious, scrumptious as the aroma and taste of the medley vegetables’, meat and seafood will enhance the taste of each others. The Filipino version of the dish uses vegetables native to the country. This dish is commonly served during celebrations as appetizer or side dish.

CHOPSEUY

Chop Seuy is another dish we owe from the Chinese cuisine. It is one of the highly-rated dishes when you go to any Chinese takeouts. Although we know that this dish originates from the Chinese, there were a lot of controversies about its origin or why is it made. But the fact is, Chinese immigrants to the America birthed this wonderful vegetable dish.

I just saw a funny tiktok video last night which I think suits this blog. It says, “Kapag nasa handaan ka at puro lechon, leche flan at maalat ang kinuha mo, ibig sabihin non, bata ka pa. Kapag naman puro chopseuy at fruit salad ang kinuha mo, ibig sabihin non, matanda ka na. [If you’re at a celebration and you get lechon, leche flan and salty food, it means you’re still young. When you get chopsuey and fruit salad, it means you’re old]. And I think that’s true HAHAHA! I usually notice that elder people choose vegetables and fruits rather than the salty and fatty foods. Aside from food preference, I think it’s mostly associated with the health benefits. I believe we become more conscious with the food we eat as we grow old.

With all the vegetables and protein sources in a chop seuy, this a great dish for those who want to eat healthy.

WHAT IS BLANCHING?

Since this recipe will involve different vegetables, it is best to learn about blanching.

Blanching is a cooking technique where a vegetable is immersed in hot or almost boiling water for a few seconds. Aside from preparation to cooking, blanching is also essential before storing or freezing the vegetables. But why do we need to blanch our vegetables? Here’s some of the benefits of blanching:

• Prevents loss of flavor, color and texture
• Remove physical dirt left on the surface of the vegetable
• Brightens color
• Helps slow vitamin losses (as some vegetables lose vitamins when heated for a long time)
• Helps some vegetable to wilt a little
• Remove some of the bitterness

Blanching time differs with the type of vegetable. For soft and leafy vegetables, blanching time is around 2 – 3 minutes while the hard vegetables (ex: carrots) can take around 5 minutes.

For a recipe like chopseuy, blanching also shares par boiling benefits, letting thhe vegetables cook a little before being added with the rest of the ingredients. This will shorten the cooking time and ensure that the vegetables are cooked.

HOW TO COOK CHOPSEUY

Despite the long list of ingredients, chopseuy is actually very easy to cook. Most of its preparations include chopping the vegetables. After that, the following steps will be so simple.

Blanch the vegetables. Remember to do this separately for each vegetable. Heat some oil and saute the ground chicken and liver with the basic aromatics. You can opt to use ground pork (but chicken is less expensive haha). Add some of the water used in blanching to make some broth (just enough to cook the meat and the vegetables to be added). The chicken cube is optional but will enhance the chicken flavor greatly. Add a little slurry to thicken the sauce a bit.

Add the rest of the ingredients one by one (except the cabbage since it cooks too fast). After a few minutes, add the cabbage. Don’t forget to season before turning the heat off.

Serve you chopseuy in a large bowl. A lot of people love it as either an appetizer or side dish but it also pairs well with a lot of hot steaming rice. Enjoy!

Paano Magluto ng Chopsuey

MGA SANGKAP:

• 2 piraso ng pitso ng manok (hiniwa ng maninipis)
• 1/4 kilo atay ng manok (hiniwa)
• 15 piraso ng hipon (nabalatan na)
• 12 piraso ng itlog pugo (nilaga)
• 1 maliit na carrot  (hiniwa)
• 1 green bell pepper (hiniwa ng cubes)
• 1 red bell pepper (hiniwa ng cubes)
• 15 piraso ng sitsaro (naalis na ang gilid)
• 1/4 repolyo
• 8 piraso ng young corn
• 1/2 tasa ng bulaklak ng cauliflower
• 1 sayote (hiniwa)
• 1sibuyas (hiniwa ng cubes)
• 3 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng malilit)
• 1/2 chicken cube
• 2 kutsara ng oyster sauce
• patis
• paminta

PAANO LUTUIN:

1. Magpakulo ng tubig at lagyan ito ng konting asin. Ilagay dito ang carrots, young corn, repolyo, cauliflower, sitsaro at bell peppers ISA-ISA. Pakuluan ang bawat gulay ng 2 – 3 minuto at alisin sa kawali kapag nagsisimula nang lumambot. Isantabi ang tubig.
2. Magpainit ng mantika sa isang wok. Igisa ang sibuyas at bawang hanggang maging golden brown. Ilagay ang pitso at igisa hanggang hindi na ito kulay pula. Ilagay ang atay ng manok at igisa ng ilang minuto. Maglagay ng konting tubig (galing sa pinagpakuluan ng mga gulay) at hayaan itong maluto ng ilang minuto.
3. Ilagay ang chicken cube at haluin para matunaw. Ilagay ang oyster sauce at ang mga hipon. Haluin ng mabuti.
4. Ilagay ang slurry at haluin hanggang magsimulang lumapot ang sauce.
5. Ilagay ang pinakuluang mga gulay sa wok (bukod sa repolyo) at haluin ng maigi.
6. Ilagay ang mga nilagang itlog ng pugo. Lasahan ng patis at paminta.
7. Ilagay ang mga repolyo at lutuin ito ng 30 segundo. Patayin ang apoy.
8. Ilipat ang chopseuy sa isang serving bowl. Samahan ng mainit na kanin. Enjoy!