Nankin Chop Suey
The Nankin Cafe was a downtown Minneapolis landmark for over 80 years.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken
- 1½ cups celery, chopped
- ½ cup bamboo shoots
- ½ cup bean sprouts
- ½ cup water chestnuts
- ¼ cup mushrooms
- 1 onion, chopped
- peanut oil
- water
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- ½ tsp. Chinese molasses
- 1 tsp. MSG (optional)
- Hot cooked rice or Chinese noodles for serving
Instructions
- Chop meat and vegetables separately. Brown meat in peanut oil. Add vegetables and pour in 1½ cups water. Boil for 10 minutes.
- Add MSG to ½ cup water (skip this step if not using MSG). Mix together MSG mixture (optional), salt, sugar, soy sauce, cornstarch, and molasses to make the gravy. Let entire mixture come to a boil to thicken. Add meat and vegetables and stir.
- Serve with rice or crisp Chinese noodles.
- Note: To make chow mein, use the same recipe but chop the vegetables and meat finer than you would for chop suey and serve with crispy noodles rather than rice.