It’s such an easy Chicken Chop Suey recipe that’s much lower in points than take out. Once the sauce begins to simmer reduce the heat and let cook for 5 minutes. In a small bowl I mixed together the chicken broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar.Īdd the sauce to the pan and increase the heat to medium high. While the vegetables were cooking I started getting the sauce ready. Let that cook for 4 minutes.Īdd the bean sprouts and cook for 1 minute. Once the chicken was done cooking I pushed it to the side and added the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. While the chicken was cooking I cut up my vegetables. Let the chicken cook until it is no longer pink. Heat the large skillet over medium heat then add the oil and chicken. Because of that I used a large nonstick skillet. To keep this recipe low in points I reduced the amount of oil I used. If you prefer a vegetarian version you could use tofu instead of chicken and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.Ĭut the boneless, skinless chicken breast into bite size pieces. You could also add snow peas, bok choy or baby corn. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Chop Suey is still a staple recipe to help home cooks and Chinese American restaurants alike ensure that their leftover ingredients do not go to waste.For the vegetables in my Chicken Chop Suey I used bean sprouts, celery, onion and carrots. Though its popularity has diminished over the years to other Chinese American dishes like the Peking Duck or General Tso’s Chicken, Chop Suey still represents a major highlight in the evolution of Chinese American cuisine and the history of Chinese immigration to the United States. Marinate chicken with 2 tbsp potato starch, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and egg white of one egg. Use paper towel to absorb any excess water. Rinse chicken and squeeze out excess water. For example, in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the appeal of Chop Suey and the burgeoning Chinese American food scene as a whole helped prevent the teardown of the Chinatown district after the Great Earthquake of 1906, as landowners and San Francisco citizens alike had grown fond of the Chop Suey along with other Chinese American dishes. Be sure that water covers all the chicken. Throughout the lifespan of the 1882 Chinese exclusion act, Chinese Americans slowly conquered such racial hostility through avenues like Chop Suey and other Chinese American dishes, along with the growing tourism industry of Chinatowns throughout the United States. More importantly, Chop Suey’s ability to appeal towards American palettes played a vital role in helping Chinese immigrants survive during a time of xenophobia in the United States. Regardless of origin, Chop Suey is a dish symbolic of many things: flavors reminiscent of home for a growing population of Chinese American migrants during the Gold Rush, a taste of the increasingly popular Chinese cuisine that wasn’t too foreign for the American palette, and the stereotype of economical Chinese American takeout, both for the customer and the restaurant. Like Chop Suey, Tsap Suei is a dish consisting of a medley of leftover ingredients the key difference being Chop Suey containing meat components while Tsap Suei only having vegetable ingredients. Specifically, Chop Suey possesses many similarities to Tsap Seui in Taishan, a county in China’s southern Guangdong province. Though it is a classically Chinese American dish, some food anthropologists argue that Chop Suey still has its roots in China. However, none of these stories have solid backing and the exact origin of Chop Suey remains a myth. Other stories tell of Chinese American immigrants working on the transcontinental railroad cooking the dish, given its usage of widely available ingredients. In hopes of satisfying both American and Chinese taste buds, Li asked his chef for an innovative dish that was not necessarily authentic, but would be able to represent Chinese flavors in a way that pleased the American palette. To compensate for the lack of fresh ingredients during after hours, the chef threw together leftovers and a soy sauce slurry in a wok, creating the first Chop Suey.Īnother legend states that Chop Suey was instead created in New York, when Chinese diplomat Li Hongzhang was hosting American guests in 1896. Drunken miners from the booming California gold rush walked in late one night asking for food. One common story cites the birthplace of Chop Suey at the Macao and Woosung Chinese restaurant, one of the first Chinese restaurants to open in San Francisco, during the mid-1800s. The exact origin of Chop Suey is contested, though it is widely agreed upon that the dish came from Cantonese immigrants in the United States between the mid 1800s to early 1900s.
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