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I remember that day in Belgaum, my friend and I had been to shopping. We got late and thought of having food in our favorite tiny restaurant. We wanted to try some dish with noodles - according to us, everything with noodles was Chinese dish :). We were a little surprised to see a dish with the name American Chopseuy in the Chinese list because we were confused to why an American dish is in Chinese list. We wanted to give it a try. For those who have never been to such restaurants in India, any non Indian dish is converted to suit Indian palate, so no matter what you order, it will be quite hot, no bland dishes.
Now, coming back to our order, we had to wait for a while to get our Chopseuy served. But when the waiter came with it, we were shocked. We could see everyone around us, including the waiter, were laughing at us. It was a huge pile of crispy noodles, which looked like a bird’s nest, having some kind of sauce on it. No need to say, we could not even finish half of it. From then on we didn’t try it again anytime in restuarants.
That continued till my final year of college. One day, we had been studying something at my friend Ameet’s home. He asked his mom to make this American Chopseuy and he gave the instructions. I still remember the taste of it. It was awesome. Last few months, I pestered him till he gave me the recipe. Since then I have prepared it many times. We both love this.
I follow Vivnidhi’s method of baking the noodles instead of deep frying it. It needs some baby sitting to see the noodles are equally crisped up, but definitely, it is a healthy version.
I have never seen this dish in any restaurants here so far. So I really don’t know if there is any connection between America and American chopseuy :). So please enlighten me if any of you know more about it.
Ingredients:
1 chunk maggie noodles (I use 1/2 packet soba noodles or hakka noodles)
1/2 cup onion slices
1/4 cup green capsicum
1/4 cup cabbage
1/4 cup carrot
1/2 tea spn garlic paste
1 tea spn ginger paste
3 tbl spns (approx) tomato ketchup
1/2 tea spn soya sauce
1/2 tea spn chilli sauce or 1 green chilli
1/4 tea spn red chilli powder
Oil
Salt
Method:
Chop all vegetables into thin strips.
Boil the noodles in salted water according to packet instructions until cooked. make sure you don’t overcook them. Drain, pour 1 tea spn of oil over it and toss the noodles. This ensures that the noodles don’t stick.
Heat oil and deep fry the noodles in batches until crispy , golden in colour. Remove on a kitchen towel. (Or line them on a baking sheet and bake on on low heat till they crisp).
For the Sauce - Heat oil in a shallow pan and add onions. Saute for 1 minute, add capsicum and cabbage (and carrots, if using). Reserve few shreds of cabbage for garnishing later. Stir constantly for 5 mins until they seem only 75% cooked.
Add garlic, ginger and chilli sauce/chilli. Stir for 30 secs.
Add soya sauce stir, then add tomato sauce. Stir continuously adding water to thin the sauce according to the consistency desired. Bring to boil while stirring constantly.
Serving - Put crisp noodles in to serving bowl/plate and pour in the sauce over it. Garnish with cabbage shreds.
Serves : 2
Preparation time : 45mins
PS: I used green beans because I wanted to use out some that I had. Also, since I was not having green capsicum, I used the yellow one.
Hey Shilpa,
These noodles look so yummy!. I like your idea of the healthier version of baking
Even I remember ordering the dish during my college days & getting surprised with crispy noodles on the plate
This one goes on to my list to try out.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:36 pmAnitha
Hi Shilpa,
October 7th, 2008 at 11:46 pmI love this dish a lot. I made it once and still remember the taste.. your s look so pretty and colourful. I had even forgotten this dish. Will make this hopefully for dinner tonight! Thanks for posting
You have brought back my memories too.I love this dish.If you use maggi noodle then you need not fry it.Just crush and roast dry in a pan till light golden brown.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:18 amNo need to cook them before. Only thing is, you need to ensure each one is roasted well .There is vegetable fat in the noodles which helps it to roast well.
Hey,
When I read the title “American Chopseuy” I was reminded of the one small restaurant (at trivandrum) we used to frequent during our college days.
The restaurant was called “Hot spot” and used to have 2 such dishes.
One was Chinese Chopseuy and another American Chopseuy.
Chinese Chopseuy was this fried noodles with sauce… American chopseuy was similar..it wasnt fried noodles…but sort of boiled noodles with the sauce over , on top of it… The dish was kind of more on the liquidy side…
And Yes I also wud like to know if such dishes actually exist on the American menu
I havent seen them elsewhere….
Gotta try this one soon
October 8th, 2008 at 12:19 amI have forgotten the taste of this dish, eaten in Mumbai ages ago. Let me try after Navrati is gone. Thanks for sharing Shilpa….easy dinner or brunch.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:24 amScrumptious!!
October 8th, 2008 at 1:42 amYummy chopsuey…looks delicious..
October 8th, 2008 at 1:47 amDelish! We haven’t had this for ages! Brought back memories
October 8th, 2008 at 4:08 amThis is one of my favorite chinese dish. Whenevr I go to chinese restaurant I order this.
October 8th, 2008 at 4:18 amHey, very nice-looking dish… Chop suey is called “American” because it was created by Chinese immigrants from Canton many years ago (late 1800’s) to please then-American taste in restaurants…but there is debate and many theories on the true origin which may be read here. Oddly-enough Shilpa, this dish was so popular at one time that my grandmother made it very regularly, and my mother occasionally. We would call it “chow mein” when served with these crispy noodles and “chop suey” when with rice. Also, the term “chop suey” is sometimes used to mean “a mix of things” such as “I have a chop suey of things to do…”
October 8th, 2008 at 6:40 amBTW…many of the newer, “fast” Chinese restaurants here do not offer this dish…but if you visit the older, larger Cantonese restaurants with a longer history you will certainly find it for offer.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:43 amHi Shilpa,
The noodles looks lovely and easy to make. I’ve put in on my “must-do” list.
Thanks for sharing.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:45 amHi, Amazing pic. Looks tasty and spicy. Nice and easy recipe.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:10 amlooks yummy.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:55 amOooh, utterly scrumptious!! Never been a big fan of chop-suey, but, migosh, you have convinced me to try this again!!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:56 amI don’t quite recollect the taste of it in the indo chinese restaurants, in Mumbai. But i do remember the huge quantity. This will be on my list for Saturday lunch. I liked the idea of baking the noodles. Innovative !!!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:40 amhi shilpa…..
I love this dish so much that whenevr i went to restuarants in my college days…this was the only thing i ordered so much so that my friends were tired of seeing it:)thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe with us…Happy dussera!
Veda
October 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pmThose sure look delicious and baked is a healthier version compared to fried any time of the day. I have also never seen american chopsuey served in restaurants here. i guess it is an indianised version of the chinese recipe.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:15 pmSounds super yummy!I should try this by the baking method..
October 8th, 2008 at 5:10 pmYummy madam i am gonna try this recipe today evening and will let u know the result as soon as possible.I am not sure about the baking process hope to have a good time
October 9th, 2008 at 1:14 amBest regards,
Sindhura
Hi Shilpa,
October 9th, 2008 at 3:41 amSince Maggi is anyway precooked, I do not boil it, but deep fry it right away. It also lessens the risk of oil splattering.
This is one of my favorites…looks delicious
October 9th, 2008 at 11:12 amthat does look pretty good Shilpa! and healthier too:)
October 9th, 2008 at 4:56 pmI made this today and loved it!
October 9th, 2008 at 9:19 pmIn KMC MAnipal where I studied the story went thus….since Americans overpower everything with Tomato Ketchup and since this chopsuey has so much ketchup in it..it is called American chopsuey.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:01 pmHello Shilpa…I recently came across ur website while searching for Chat recepies..and after that became a regular visitor !!!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:16 pmI tried out this chopsuey…instead of vegetables in the sauce, I used chicken..it came out very well..
Thanx for this..even my husband liked it so much
Hi Shilpa, you have one amazing blog! I love reading and trying out your recipes and also your lil stories you write in every post. I was looking for a good recipe for American Chopsuey for a long time…and here it is! I tried your Dates cake last week. I cant count the number of Wooow’s I heard from everyone. I was guilty of not letting out the secret to the recipe source!!
October 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pmMade it for lunch, turned out excellent. Just added a few mushrooms and broccoli. We all loved it.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:28 pmwhat someone who did their research told me is this. there’s no ‘american chopsuey’ in america. it’s an indian creation. regular ‘chinese chopsuey’ doesn’t have the poached egg on top, ‘american chopsuey’ has one. so yours is chinese chopsuey.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:30 amBaking the noodles is a smart idea for a crisper version Shilpa. and the Chopsuey looks so colorful and yummy and SPICY ofcourse!!!
Hugs,
October 11th, 2008 at 7:38 pmSiri
This looks good. Baking is a neat idea, and no trouble with trying to fry boiled noodles!!!
However, the memories I have is of American Chopsuey is the one served in Mac Fast Food near Brigade Road in Bangalore. It had boiled, as well as fried noodles, plus a sweetish- sour bright orange (must be colour!!) sauce with capsicum, pineapple , cabbage etc. I have tried many times at home, and all versions tasted great …but I never managed the same taste! Bee observation is correct that the non-veg American Chopsuey had sliced boiled egg on top!
October 13th, 2008 at 8:30 pmHi - just came across your site while searching for a good eggless cake receipes. Started surfing your site for more recipes and have found quite a few that i want to try. I will def try this one as well. It brought back some memories while i was india. Thanks and great job on your blog.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:51 pmHi Shilpa,
October 20th, 2008 at 9:53 amI am a regular visitor to your site. I am also a big fan of chinese food and really glad to see this healthy version on your site. American chopsuey (in most versions I have come across in Indian restaurants) has a ketchup based sauce topping on the crispy noodles, while chinese chopsuey has a soy based sauce. I’ve seen a fried egg being served with both versions.
Amrita
Thanks for all the yummy recipes Shilpa. I have been visiting your website for sometime and trying out a lot of stuff. They all turn out mouth watering…especially the Belgaum dishes. You see, I have stayed in Belgaum (and Bangalore) for a long time and have many similar “american chopseuy” stories. So everytime I read your blog with a Belgaum in it, I remember my days there. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
October 21st, 2008 at 1:38 pmThanks a ton !!!!!!! i am really craving for some good american chopseuy in my 5th month of pregnancy.Thanks again u saved me,my mouth is watering yummmmmmm…………..
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:11 pmThe chop suey looks Fabulous Shilpa!.Another version I will also try sometime. I am so glad you liked the baking part. Thank you for mentioning me:).
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm