Sri Lankan Chop Suey

Ahhhh, the Sri Lankan Chinese vegetable chop suey. A delight to herbivores and omnivores alike, this is a main feature of the Sri Lankan Chinese "set menu" options at restaraunts —- rightly so because it is scrumptious. In other parts of the world the chop suey is a dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce, but in Sri Lanka it is completely vegetarian/vegan and is an entity in its own right.

Back in the early 2000s in Sri Lanka, Flower Drum used to be the gold standard for this dish. Since then many iterations have permeated the Sri Lankan Chinese food market and this dish is incredibly accessible now. Growing up, my mother's deep mistrust of MSG meant that this dish was homemade whenever possible and she usually made this for dinner parties when the likeness of fried rice and devilled chicken were also being served.

I have fond memories of digging through the chop suey and eating the champignons (canned button mushrooms) and baby corn because in that time, those items were still small luxuries. Fast forward to 2020 and I am still using the canned baby corn and champignons like my mother used to because despite the fresh stuff being accessible, I find that the canned version lends itself much better to this recipe.

Recipe notes:

Canned vs fresh: You can definitely use fresh button mushrooms and fresh baby corn if it's available to you. I prefer to use the canned versions as I feel that the texture is overall better.

Vegan options: This dish is typically served alongside other meat mains such as devilled chicken or hot butter cuttlefish. For vegans who want protein in the meal, you can add in 150g of firm tofu in this dish to make it a bit more wholesome.

Customisation: This can legimately be made with whatever vegetables you may have handy. I wont recommend beetroot but potatoes, bok choy, oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms are all great choices

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves chopped finely

• 1.5 tbs ginger chopped finely

• 100g fresh cauliflower

• 2-3 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced thickly

• 1 can champignons, washed drained

• 1 can baby corn, drained & cut on the bias

• 1 can straw mushrooms, washed and drained (optional)

• 70g green beans

• 100g white cabbage leaves, seperated, washed and cut into thirds

• 1 punnet fresh black fungus (optional)

• 2 tsp stock powder

• 1/2 tsp white pepper or 1 tsp black pepper ground

• 3 tsp hoisin

• 2 tsp sesame oil

• 25g butter

• 1 tsp veg oil

Mix together:

• 3 tsp soy sauce

• 1 tbs cornstarch

• 3 tbs water

Other vegetables you can use: Broccoli, bok choy, kale, brussel sprout, bean sprouts, snow peas, spring onion

Method

Gather all ingredients and clean and wash the veggies and prep the garlic and ginger. You can use the pastes but fresh ginger and garlic really does go a long way here.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and salt the water. Add in the cauliflower to the pot and boil for about 4 minutes. As the cauliflower starts to soften, add in the sliced carrot.

Once this comes back up to a gentle boil, remove the cauliflower and carrot from the water and drain. Then bring up some more water to the boil for the green beans. Add in the green beans and cook for approximately 5 minutes -- until the beans are soft but havent lost their colour. If you are riding fresh broccolini or broccolini or snow peas, follow the same method but do not cook for as long as the beans. Immediately remove the beans from the liquid and drain, and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.

Using a wide pan, melt the butter together with the vegetable oil on a medium-low flame . Once the butter has melted, add in the ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant

Add this point, add in any uncooked vegetables such as mushrooms and baby corn and stir fry for 4-5 minutes until the mushrooms and other veg begin to cook down. At this stage you can also add in tofu if you're using.

Add in the stock powder and pepper followed by the boiled veggies and give a thorough mix. In the meantime, also prepare the cornstarch, water and soy sauce slurry.

Next, also add in the hoisin sauce and osyter sauce to the chop suey and mix well. Next, place the cabbage leaves on top of the veggie mix and put a lid on the pan for 2-3 minutes to soften the cabbage. Do not mix the cabbage in at this stage. Then, take the lid off the pan and add in the cornstarch mixture.

Mix through the slurry and keep cooking until the cabbage is just cooked through (should take about 1 minute or so) and take off the heat immediately. If you prefer a chop suey with a bit more sauce, add 2-3 tbs of water once the chop suey is off the heat and mix through. The veggies will continue to keep cooking so it's important to turn off the heat.

Once the heat is completely off, add in the sesame oil and give it a final mix through and serve! The sesame oil should only be added at the end so as to not lose the sesame flavour. And there you have it! This wonderful dish can be eaten as it is with just some jasmine rice on the side, or served with fried rice, devilled chicken and hot butter prawns/cutteflish!

Sav xx