A Delicious assortment of chopped Vegetables & Shrimp covered in a Chinese Clear Sauce for a Beautiful and Simple Shrimp Chop Suey! There is nothing like a Chinese Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry once in a while. Coated in a nice glistening, flavorful thickened Chinese Clear sauce that seems to bring everything together with tender stir-fried vegetables.
Chop Suey is also an extremely cheap meal to prepare. Served as a main course or side dish and is so good. Just right when you are craving Chinese food.
Chop Suey Vegetables
The key to preparing the vegetables in Chinese Stir Fry, is to prep them so that they all cook up at roughly the same time.
A whole host of Vegetables can be used. Pretty much using up any Vegetables that need to go. Although there are some common ones found in Chop Suey that should be included.
Napa Cabbage
Peel off the outer leaves and chop into 1-inch sections. Rinse well and strain. You can get a lot of Chop Suey from 1 Napa Cabbage.
Other cabbages may be used with the Napa Cabbage or in place of, such as Bok Choy. Which is chopped into 1-inch sections the same as Napa Cabbage or Chinese Cabbage, which is sliced thinly bean sprout size.
Bean Sprouts
A good amount of Bean Sprouts really elevates Chop Suey. Bean Sprouts are added last since these cook up very fast. Only a few seconds are needed to heat through but still remain crisp.
Pick these up fresh as you decide to make Chop Suey. If there are any leftovers, place them into a bowl of water and refrigerate until needed next time. Exchange the water every day or so to keep them fresh.
If you’d rather not have to look after the bean sprouts. Then picking them up fresh as you require them or buying the canned bean sprouts is the way to go.
Onions
There are two types of onions that go into a Chop Suey. The first kind is Onions sliced into Wedges or Strips. These are cooked with the other vegetables that go into the Stir fry.
Green Onions are the other type of Onions that go into the Stir Fry. Usually at the end because these cook up pretty quickly and if overcooked take on a texture that is not pleasing at all.
Green Onions go into the Stir Fry at the same time Bean Sprouts do. Just to heat through towards the end.
Carrots
Carrots Sliced thin and on an angle, creating more surface area so that the carrots can cook up tender. These can also be sliced into very thin strips (Fine Julienne).
Aromatics
The Aromatics add a nice flavor to the overall dish. Commonly, Garlic & Ginger are added for the aromatics and flavor the Oil. Shallots can be included as well.
These are chopped and added to the wok with Oil to Stir fry for a bit.
Chop Suey Sauce
This is where all the magic happens. A Beautiful Glistening Sauce coating the vegetables. This is known as the Chinese Clear Sauce or Chinese White Sauce.
In Chinese restaurants, the Key Ingredients that go into making up Chop Suey Sauce or Stir Fry Sauce are Salt, Sugar, and MSG. These are added to the Stir fry with a bit of Water or Broth and thickened with a Slurry made of Cornstarch/Potato Starch and water.
For us, at Home, the seasoning can go straight into the sauce along with the thickener and added to the Wok once the Chop Suey is ready.
There are also a few more tweaks that I prefer for outstanding Chop Suey.
Chop Suey Base Sauce
The Base Sauce is Broth or Water. I use a broth that is in relation to the type of protein being used. For seafood, Hondashi really is something else.
Hondashi
Use 1 tsp to 1/2 Tbl of Hondashi with the Sauce for Shrimp Chop Suey or any Seafood Chop Suey.
Cream of Tartar
This is typically not used in Chinese restaurants. I add a 1/8 tsp of Cream of Tartar. This adds a barely noticeable acidity to the sauce, but even more so is used to protect the color of the Vegetables from fading.
Spices
There is not much that goes into the Chop Suey Sauce other than 1/8 tsp of White Pepper which I like to include.
You can add in the addition of Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, and a small amount of Ginger if desired in addition to the Aromatics or as a substitute.
Shrimp
Place the Shrimp into a bowl of cold water to thaw. This should take about 10 minutes. Peel the Shrimp and strain. From here you can go straight to stir-frying after all of your vegetables have been prepared.
With Seafood, stir-fry initially with oil and your aromatics if using. Then remove the Seafood and set it aside to include in the Chop Suey towards the end, as to not overcook the Seafood.
Raw Shrimp
After thawing and removing the shells. Place the Shells into a Ziploc Bag and freeze to use for other dishes.
Equipment
- 1 Large Wok
- 4 Bowls For Vegetables, Green Onions & Bean Sprouts, Sauce and thawing shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 lb Shrimp
- 1 C Water
- 2 Tbl Neutral Oil - optionally with 1 tsp of Sesame Oil
Chop Suey Sauce
- 1 C Water
- 2 Tbl Potato Starch
- 1 tsp Hondashi & Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt & MSG
- 1/8 tsp White Pepper & Cream of Tartar
Vegetables
- 8 leaves Napa Cabbage - Chopped in 1 inch sections
- 1 large Onion - Sliced into Wedges or Strips
- 1 C Bean Sprouts - or more
- 1 Carrot - Sliced thin on an angle or Fine Julienne
- 4-6 Mushrooms - Sliced thin, optional
- 1 Bell Pepper - Sliced into Strips, optional
- 2-4 Green Onions
- 2 cloves Garlic - Chopped
- 1/2 inch Ginger - Chopped
Instructions
- Prep all the Vegetables and place them into a Bowl. In a separate bowl, add the Bean Sprouts and Green Onions to be added to the Chop Suey Last.Combine all the Chop Suey Sauce Ingredients together and mix. Mix again before adding to the Chop Suey.
- With the Stove top on Medium Heat. Add in the Oil, Shrimp, Garlic, and Ginger. Ensure that the Shrimp is in an even layer. Cook for about 2 minutes, tossing the shrimp around every so often. The Shrimp should change color and curl, but not create an "O" Shape. Remove the Shrimp and set aside to add back into the Chop Suey towards the end.
- Increase the heat to Max, add your Vegetables and Stir Fry for a few minutes. Then add the 1 Cup of water, bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until the hard vegetables are tender.
- Add in the Bean Sprouts, Green Onions, Shrimp with the Chop Suey Sauce and mix well until the sauce thickens and serve.