American Chopsuey made healthier

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American Chopsuey is another of those fusion Indo Chinese dishes that I mentioned in this post and this post . This dish usually is made with crunchy stir fried vegetables, topped with fried noodles and then topped with the chopsuey sauce. This used to be one of my favorite items to order when I visited any Indo- Chinese restaurant in India. There was something about this sweetish slightly spicy sauce that really appealed to me and there is no denying the crunchy fried noodles had something to do with my interest in this dish too :-)  

I have avoided trying this dish at home because of the frying involved in this dish. When I came across this alternative  on Nidhi's site using baked noodles, I could not resist trying it out immediately. Baking the noodles made it as crunchy as the fried ones and I adapted the recipe for the sauce a little bit and felt it tasted just perfect. With the quantity of veggies I used this turned out to be an ideal one dish meal and since it is fairly quick and simple to make, this is great for those evenings when time is short.The sauce can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for at least a few days too.

A peek at all the components of this dish...........

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make American Chopsuey

For the sauce

1/2 cup plain tomato ketchup

1 tsp oil

3/4 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1/2 cup water (see notes)

Additional 1/2 cup water

salt to taste ( I used about 1 1/4 tsp salt)

soy sauce 1 tsp

Veggies for chopsuey

1 large yellow onion cut into long slices

2 large green bell peppers (cut into long slices)

3 1/2 cups of shredded cabbage

2 tbsp oil

pinch of salt

Noodles

250 gms egg noodles (or hakka noodles)(or even Maggie / Top ramen noodles)

few drops of oil to brush on the noodles

Method 

To make sauce

Mix corn starch in 1/2 cup water and keep aside

Mix tomato ketchup, red chilli powder, 1/2 cup water, sugar, salt and soy sauce in a large bowl and keep aside

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the minced garlic to it and saute until the garlic starts turning slightly brown.

Lower heat and slowly add the tomato ketchup + all other spices kept aside.

Add the corn starch +water to this mixture and let it simmer for a few minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.

Remove from heat and keep aside.

For the noodles

Pre heat oven to 400 deg F

Line a baking tray or sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place the noodles on the tray/ sheet and brush with a few drops of oil on top of the noodles

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the top of the noodles begins to turn brown.

For the veggies

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan

Add the onions to the oil and saute until the onions are transparent.

Add the rest of the vegetables and saute until the veggies are cooked but crisp on a medium high heat.

For the chopsuey.

Assemble all three components of the dish in a large bowl and serve immediately.

If you like your noodles a little softer let the noodles soak the sauce for a few minutes and then serve.

Notes

I used egg noodles and since they were light, it got baked very quickly, in case you use top ramen or maggie noodles the baking time may vary.

If you are not particular about crunchy noodles you can quite easily substitute with cooked noodles and proceed with the rest of the recipe 

Corn starch is known as corn flour in India