Veg Chop suey with Noodles

The other day, they served Veg chop suey noodles at snacks after a big fancy meeting at work. That was my first time tasting these… yeah, needless to say, am not a fan of Chinese food, and rarely even try them. But these noodles were served in a different fashion – noodles topped with curry and vegetables, and it wasn’t even tasty. All of the different elements in the dish were bland but the cook in me saw potential in the dish. My interest was piqued and I HAD to try this dish!

And hence the attempt to recreate my own version of Veg Chop Suey noodles…

Though this is my first attempt at cooking a Chinese dish, am proud to say that these noodles tasted far better than what I ate first. In fact, I don’t think this is an entirely Chinese dish, the way I prepared it. There is not an iota of Ajinomoto and I could totally do without the soya sauce. I guess this is more of a Thai dish. The curry was flavorful, the vegetables had some spice in them and the noodles were well cooked. And what’s more, with all the vegetables in this, this is even a healthy dish!

There are a lot of varieties of this dish on the internet, an American-Chinese version and a total Chinese one being the top of the results. When I read through those, I was sure I didn’t want to make any of those. I wanted to build this on the basic idea of serving vegetables on a bed of noodles with a flavorful curry.
Before I started making this , when I was ideating the recipe, I had an idea of making a Thai curry paste styled paste, and then a Thai curry to be served with the noodles. But as I started cooking the curry, I wanted to add the Indian flavors. As I expected, poppy and sesame would add some depth to the curry. As for the vegetables, they could’ve been served plain steamed, but since I was trying to appeal to the Indian palate, I added some spice to them too as they were being cooked.

Pick up any rice noodles they sell at the store for this dish. I used eggless flat Thai rice noodles and they were pretty easy to cook.
And when I finally assembled the dish, I could barely stop myself from pouncing on the dish myself… it was a perfect main course for the guests!
Next on my Try list are the Burmese and Vietnamese versions… stay hooked! :-)

Veg Chop suey with Noodles
Prep time – 60 min
Cooking time – 30 min
Level – Moderate
Ingredients [Serves 4-6 people]
For the Curry paste Onion – 1 , medium
Garlic – 4-6 cloves
Green chilli – 2
Ginger – an inch piece
Lemon Grass – couple of stalks
Roasted Peanuts – 1/4 C
Basil leaves – a couple [Optional]
For the Curry/Sauce Curry Paste – 1 C
Coconut Milk – 200 ml
Dry coconut powder – 1/2 C
Chilli Powder – 1 Tsp
Sesame seeds – 1 Tbsp
Poppy seeds – 1 Tsp
Turmeric – 1 Tsp
Cumin powder – 1 Tbsp
Coriander powder – 1 Tbsp
Tamarind paste – 1 Tbsp
Soya Sauce – 1/2 Tbsp
Hot water – 1 C
Salt – To taste
For the VegetablesCauliflower florets – 1 C
Red Cabbage, shredded – 1/2 C
Beans , cut lengthwise – 1/2 C
Carrot , cut lengthwise in thin strips – 1/2 C
Baby Corn, cut lengthwise  – 4-6 corns
Cherry tomatoes – 1/2 C [Optional]
Red bell pepper , cut in thin long strips – 1 , medium
Yellow bell pepper , cut in thin long strips – 1 , medium
Onion, cut thin – 1 medium
Pok Choy leaves with stem, washed and chopped – two bunches
Turmeric – 1/2 Tsp
Chilli powder – 1/2 Tsp
Cooking oil – 2 Tbsp
Salt – to taste
Chinese/Thai Rice Noodles , flat/round – two handfuls
For the garnish
Coriander leaves, washed & chopped – a handful
Roasted peanuts – a handful
Instructions
Prepare the curry paste by grinding all the ingredients together. This can be made well ahead in time and frozen/refrigerated for up to a month.
Heat the cooking oil in a large wok/kadai, and sauté the onions in it. Once the onions are golden brown, add the pok choy leaves and bell pepper pieces. Add turmeric and chilli powders.
Meanwhile, steam the cauliflower florets, beans, carrot , cabbage and baby corn together in a microwave for 5 min. This is only so that the vegetables are cooked before they are thrown into the wok along with the other veggies. Instead of this step, you can directly put these veggies in the wok and steam/sauté it so that they are well cooked.
Add the steamed veggies to the wok followed by the tomatoes, and sauté well till the turmeric and chilli powders are mixed well. Add salt to taste, and cook these on the medium flame till the vegetables are all cooked.
Prepare the noodles per the instructions on the pack. Depending on what noodles you chose, you’ll either have to boil them in water or soak them in warm water till they are cooked. Mine were to be cooked using the latter method, and they needed to be soaked in warm water for 10 min. They doubled up in quantity once cooked.
Prepare the curry by sautéing the curry paste in hot sesame oil. Add turmeric , chilli powder, cumin and coriander powders to this and sauté well.
Now add the poppy seeds to this and keep the cooking pan on a low flame. Slowly add the coconut milk and dry coconut and mix well.
The curry would be thick by now, so if required dilute this by adding hot water. Add soya sauce and tamarind paste and mix well. Add salt and cook this on a low flame for 10-15 min.
To serve, assemble the curry , vegetables and noodles, by placing the noodles in the serving plate first, followed by pouring adequate amount of curry and then placing the vegetables on this.
Garnish with roasted peanuts and coriander leaves. Serve this warm as a main course dish.