Posted on by Cleverona Kitchen

Colorful Chop Suey

One emerging foodie trend is "eating the rainbow". This trend encourages you to vary the types of food you eat by incorporating items of different color into your diet. Ideally, you will need produce with rich colors for this. And this trend actually works for your advantage because richly colored produce are known to be rich in antioxidants.

The well-loved American Chinese dish chop suey is one good excuse to serve the family a multi-colored dish. It is a fun and super-healthy dish that features almost all the colors of the rainbow: red bell pepper, orange carots, yellow corn, green veggies, violet onion, etc.

chop suey ingredients

chop suey ingredients

Let's hop in and get this colorful chop suey dish started.

 


Colorful Chopsuey chop suey

Ingredients

  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 red onion small
  • 1 dozen quail eggs cooked and halved
  • 1-1/2 cup protein flakes
  • 3/4 cup snow peas
  • 3/4 cup broccoli florets
  • 1-1/2 chayote sliced in strips
  • 1 cup carrots sliced thinly
  • 1 small cabbage chopped roughly
  • 1 medium red bell pepper chopped
  • 1 cup button mushrooms
  • 1 cup baby corn sliced diagonally
  • 1 handful 2-inch long scallions sliced
  • 1-2 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • hot water
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Rehydrate meat substitute. Add hot water to the flakes until they are immersed. Once the flakes are fully rehydrated, drain water from the bowl, and squeeze out excess water from the flakes.

2. Cook quail eggs until they are hard boiled. Once done, cool, peel and cut in halves diagonally.

3. Heat about 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a pan in low to medium heat. Saute garlic & onion until transparent.

Saute garlic & onion

4. Add rehydrated protein flakes & bouillon cubes. Add 3/4 cup warm water. Cover the pan and cook until water starts to boil.

 

protein flakes

5. Add veggies starting with the firmest first.

 

cook veggies

6. Cover the pan. Let everything cook for 3 to 5 minutes.

 

Cover the pan

7. Add remaining veggies - button mushrooms, baby corn, red bell pepper, and cabbage. Cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes.

 

add veggies

8. Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup of warm water to 2 tbsp of cornstarch. Stir well and add mixture to pan. Stir everything well and cover pan to let liquid thicken. Set heat to low.

 

add water

9. Season with salt and pepper. Add scallions. Cover the pan.

 

add greens

10. Add quail eggs to the pan. Turn off heat. Set pan on trivet, remove handle and serve. Enjoy!

 

add quail eggs 

Recipe Notes

  1. When working with veggies, cook the firm ones first. This way the softed veggies will not wilt and get soggy.
  2. Keep your veggies crunchy. Try to cook them only half-way.
  3. Hot chicken or beef broth can be used to rehydrate your meat substitute. The same broth can be used as the main liquid for the dish. Switch hot water for broth if you want more flavor.
  4. Always cut quail eggs diagonally. This way all he halves will have yolk in them.
  5. Refrain from taking the lid off the pan during the cooking process. This lets the heat out, prolonging the cooking time. It can also mess with the consistency of your veggies. Use a pan lid with tempered glass dome like the Clever Lid.