American Chop Suey

Step 1

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.

Step 2

Immediately drain them in a colander and wash them thoroughly with cold water.

Step 3

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.

Step 4

After 30 minutes, sprinkle the noodles with cornflour and toss them well.

Step 5

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.

Step 6

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.

Step 7

Drain them out on some tissue paper and let them cool completely before using. Keep aside.

Step 8

Heat oil in a wok or kadai and add ginger and garlic. Stir fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Step 9

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.

Step 10

Add tomato sauce, soy sauce, red chilli sauce, black pepper powder and sugar and mix well until combined.

Step 11

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.

Step 12

Add lime juice. Sprinkle with spring onion greens and serve hot on top of fried noodles.