Chop Suey and Happy New Year!

There is nothing more American–well, Chinese American–than Chop Suey but did you know this dish is a staple for the first day of Chinese New Year?

We celebrated New Year’s Eve yesterday to bring in the Year of the Dog. Last night Chinese family members would have come together to the home of their patriarch and feasted.

Whoever cooked the meal would have cooked up more than a storm. Because for the next few days there will be no more cooking. Tradition steers us away from working on New Year’s Day; you can’t use knives, or scissors.

Instead we would be eating Chop Suey and all the leftovers from the dinner. Many families also observe the tradition to eat vegetarian on the first day of new year. And Choy Suey is exactly that. Chop means an assortment or mixed and suey means leftovers.

I initially had no idea what Chop Suey meant because I knew this dish in Cantonese as Chup Choy. It is known as Chap Chye in Hokkien. The latter two simply means an assortment of vegetables. Chup, chap and chop are the same word.

So where does this word chop suey come from?  Chop Suey is this same dish in Toishan-ese. The first immigrants from China to the United States were predominantly from Toishan, a district in Guangdung where the Cantonese are from. They introduced Chop Suey to this country.

Our friends from California and New York who have been here for generations are mostly from Toishan. Their Cantonese is spoken with a marked dialect difference. They remind me of my grandfather, who was from Sunhui, another district with a different accent..

Ted and I had new year’s eve dinner at a restaurant with my friend Chi. Feeling bad about not doing anything about this auspicious day, I quickly went to H Mart today, bought a few ingredients and made Chop Suey.

I did not use meat in this recipe but added chicken stock and oyster sauce to give it a more robust taste. And I included the traditional vegetarian ingredients, fungi delicacies–Chinese mushroom, black fungus, and black moss, also known as hair vegetable. (Don’t panic, it’s a bit gross but it’s not hair. You can skip it.)

Sorry Sandy, I hope these funky Chinese delicacies don’t freak you out. Here’s the before and after photos of mushroom, black fungus and black moss. To reconstitute the three varieties of fungi, soak in warm water for at least 20 minutes. Strain and discard water. I braised the mushroom in some chicken stock to make it more tender.

Chop Suey

1 handful dried Chinese mushroom, reconstituted
1 small handful dried black fungi, reconstituted (optional)
1 tablespoon size bunch black moss, reconstituted (optional)
1½ cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large shallot, sliced
¾  pound Napa cabbage, sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Salt

In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup of chicken stock to boil and add mushrooms. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add black fungus in the middle of cooking. Set aside.

In a large frying pan, heat oil. Add garlic and shallot and fry till shallots are softened and garlic is golden.

Add vegetables and toss well to mix.

Add mushrooms, black fungus and black moss. Add rest of chicken stock and oyster sauce and continue to fry until vegetable is tender. Add salt to taste. Serve hot or at room temperature. Triple recipe and eat this over the next few days.