Chop Suey

Almost two years ago, when I met Thomas' sister Elizabeth and her family for the first time, she and her husband, Saki, prepared a meal of chop suey for us to enjoy. It was delicious! We tried the recipe they shared recently, and although I didn't make it as well as they did, it is worth sharing!

Chop Suey
garlic
ginger
oil
meat (optional)
various vegetables, sliced/shredded: shredded carrots, bok choy, mushrooms, peppers, celery, or broccoli slaw, for example. We also used zucchini.
soy sauce
rice, ramen noodles, or rice noodles (hard to find... but inexpensive at WinCo)

1. Sautée some garlic and ginger in some oil. Add meat if using meat, and a bit of soy sauce.
2. Add in vegetables and more soy sauce, oil, garlic, and ginger to taste.
3. Cook until veggies are heated but still crunch.
4. Serve with/over prepared rice, ramen noodles (sans seasoning), or rice noodles. The rice noodles we used were very thin and stringy; Elizabeth and Saki had some fatter-looking noodles that I liked better when we had them... Use what suits you!

American Chinese Food: It's What's For Dinner

We are proud to present, after a few weeks' hiatus, a delightful meal that we highly recommend to our readers: Fried rice with homemade egg rolls. This is even good for leftovers and quite cheap, so make plenty and save money.

Homemade Egg Rolls (makes 24)

Wrapper Ingredients
2 C flour
1 egg
1t salt
1/2 C ice water

1. Pour flour into a bowl.
2. Beat egg and salt in a second bowl. Mix 1/4 C ice water into egg mixture.
3. Add egg mixture to flour along with the remainder of ice water. Mix thoroughly.
4. Knead dough for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.
5. Cover the dough and let sit for 30 minutes (you can work on the egg roll innards while waiting).
6. Knead the dough briefly, then divide into 24 equal parts.
7. Roll each part into 3 to 4 inch squares.
8. Stack them with a thin dusting of cornstarch between to prevent them from sticking.

Egg rolls
24 egg roll wrappers
1/2 head of cabbage, in small pieces
10-15 baby carrots, grated
2 chicken breasts, diced
pepper
salt
garlic powder
ginger
soy sauce
oil

1. Fry chicken in oil along with pepper, salt, garlic powder, ginger, and soy sauce.
2. Mix the cabbage and carrots in a bowl.
3. Lay out wrapper. Fill it with about two spoons of vegetables and a few pieces of chicken, then wrap it up.
4. Fry each egg roll in oil, using tongs to turn and remove them as they begin to brown. Don't cook them beyond a golden brown.

Fried Rice
rice
2-3 eggs
peas
soy sauce

1. Cook rice as normal.
2. Begin to fry rice. Add copious amounts of soy sauce.
3. Mix in eggs and peas.
4. Let simmer for a few minutes.

There you have it: a simple yet delightful meal. Bon appetit!