Soupy Noodles

Ever wondered what to cook when you are not particularly hungry , dont have much choice, have to meats or even vegetables and cant be bothered to go out and shop for some? Here is how a pack of instant noodles can work for you.

1 pack of instant noodles. Any vegetable scraps, 1 tablespoon of instant soup powder ( mushroom, vegetable, chicken, asparagus, oriental veg, sweet corn soup) , 1 stock cube, 1 tablespoon ketchup or worcestershire sauce . ( Here i have used leftover noodles half a pack of egg noodles and half plain)

Boil water according to the instant noodles packet instructions, add an extra half measure of water to it first. Add in the stock cube , sauces and vegetables. Mix the soup powder in 2 tblsp water. Add to the boiling water. Break the noodles and add. Switch off the heat when the noodles are just about done. Cover and keep for 2 mins. Serve garnished with grated cheese or a fried egg, boiled chicken or anything handy really.

American Chop Suey

While Chop Suey is the mnemonic for Chinese cooking , the American Chop Suey is a concoction made up by the Americans. When the railroad tracks were being laid in San Francisco, the chinese migrant cooks served up a chopsuey made with vegetables, beans , chicken/pork and noodles. The Americans, used to eating every thing with ketchup, would add ketchup to this chopsuey. This was hence known as the American Chop Suey.

American Chop Suey
¼ cup each of julienned carrots, capsicum, mushrooms, spring onions, cabbage
4 tbsp bean sprouts,
2 tbsp oil, 200 ml tomato puree, 4 tbsp tomato ketchup, 1 tbsp soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste,
2 tbsp corn starch blended with water
fresh cut noodles, deep fried.
Heat oil, stir fry all the veggies for 2 mins, Mis tomato puree, ketchup , soy sauce, salt , pepper and add to the veggies. As soon as the mixture bubbles, add the cornflour till sauce thickens.
In a dish place fried noodles, serve veggies over it . Top with a fried egg.

For a non vegetarian version , you can add thinly sliced marinated chicken ( for 200 gms chicken beat 1 egg and 2 tbsp cornflour and salt pepper to taste. Keep covered for 10 minutes and strir fry.)or mince or prawns. All all of it . Just stirfry the chicken / prawns before adding the vegetables. Cook till almost done, before adding the sauces.



You will find the recipe for fresh noodles in this blog.