An Indo Chinese favourite, veggies in a sweet, spicy, sour sauce are served over crispy fried noodles. The only work is in prepping the veggies but after that, the entire dish comes together in under 30 minutes.
¼CupChopped Spring Onionsgreen part cut into 1 inch pieces
4TablespoonsTomato Ketchup
2TablespoonSoy SauceNaturally Fermented Or Naturally Brewed
2TablespoonRed Chilli Sauce or Sriracha
½TeaspoonBlack Pepper Powder
2TablespoonsCornflour
2 - 2 ½CupsWater
2TeaspoonsSugar
2-3Green chilliesfinely chopped
Juice Of 1 Lime
Salt As Required
Chopped Spring Onions For Garnish
Instructions
Fried Noodles
Boil the noodles with salt and a teaspoon of oil till al dente. My rule of thumb is to boil the noodles for 60 seconds less than the package instructions.
Immediately drain them in a colander and wash them thoroughly with cold water.
Once they are completely drained, spread them out in an even layer on a sheet or parchment paper and leave them out to dry for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, sprinkle the noodles with cornflour and toss them well.
Heat oil in a cast iron skillet or frying pan till it starts shimmering (350F/ 180C). You can drop a small piece of noodle in the oil to check if it's hot enough. If there is no movement in the oil when you drop the noodle, it's not hot enough.
Keep the heat to medium high, and add a handful of noodles to the oil, spreading them out. Deep fry them for 2-3 minutes till they are a deep golden brown. Do this in batches so that the temperature of the oil does not drop down significantly once you add the noodles.
Drain them out on some tissue paper and let them cool completely before using. Keep aside.
American Chop Suey Sauce
Heat oil in a wok or kadai and add ginger and garlic. Stir fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add onions, carrots and capsicum and stir fry on high heat for 1-2 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add cabbage, spring onions and bok choy and stir fry again for 1-2 minutes on high heat.
Add tomato sauce, soy sauce, red chilli sauce, black pepper powder and sugar and mix well until combined.
Combine corn flour and water in a bowl and add to the wok. Add green chillies and continue stirring until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until desired consistency has been reached.
Add lime juice. Sprinkle with spring onion greens and serve hot on top of fried noodles.
Video
Notes
Preparation: Make sure all the veggies are prepped and ready to go as Chinese stir fries cook really quickly!
Chopping: Cut the veggies into thick juliennes or strips (as shown) so that they don’t go soggy too fast and stay crisp.
Lime Juice: This is an important element to the sauce as the tanginess really helps balance out the other flavours, but it should be added right at the end to keep its freshness.
Serving: Once you pour the gravy over crispy noodles, serve this immediately so that the noodles do not become soggy. You can serve separate gravy bowls for whoever is eating to pour themselves.
Air Fryer Noodles: We tested air frying and deep frying the noodles because they were the only ‘unhealthy’ element of this dish. And honestly, we couldn’t tell the difference. Find the method for deep frying noodles in the recipe notes below.