Cooking Series 4 - GF Chop Suey

Chop Suey, served with crumbed chicken tenderloins. All GF of course.

 I always like to made something special for dinner on Saturday nights. So I made my favorite foods for dinner last Saturday. With the addition of a glass of your favorite beverage, for me and Sam that's red wine, some flowers and a candle you have a tasty, romantic dinner for two.

Not just a romantic meal, it's healthy, easy to cook and beats going out in the cold to pick up takeaway. A budget friendly meal but more importantly, I can guarantee that I won't be glutened if I make it myself.

The ingredients are staples in my fridge and food cupboard except one.  I only need to remember to add a cabbage to my shopping list.

Chop Suey (as my family always called it) is a favorite of mine since childhood. Mum used to make it with a packet of chicken noodle soup but I've needed to alter the recipe a little bit because I have Coeliac disease. I use gluten free, chicken stock power made up into a cup of stock. I have used rice successfully in the past and also gluten free pasta, broken into short lengths but I think this recipe which uses quinoa is my favorite. It's so good I think it's nicer than the original made with the soup mix. 

The list of ingredients are:
2 tblspns oil (I use olive oil)
Half a red onion sliced into small strips
Two carrots halved lengthways and sliced
A small stick of celery, sliced
Small floret of broccoli chopped
250gms beef mince
2 tspns of curry powder
1 cup of frozen beans
1/4 of a smallish cabbage​
1/4 cup quinoa
1 cup chicken stock

Method:
Heat a deep saucepan like the one shown in my picture. Add the oil and stir fry the onion, carrot and celery, when the onion is transparent add the mince and continue to stir fry until the meat is browned. ​

Make a clear space in the bottom of the pan and fry the curry powder for a few seconds then stir through. Add the beans, broccoli, cabbage, quinoa, chicken stock and stir to combine. 

​Bring to a boil and cover. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit on the stove without removing the lid for another 10 minutes and it will be ready.

All the liquid will be absorbed by the quinoa which is how I like it. Give it a stir to fluff it up and serve. I like to drizzle some soy sauce over it before eating. It's lovely on it's own or you can serve it like I did with some crumbed chicken tenderloins.  

I used olive oil to shallow fry the chicken, which was dipped in GF self raising flour, a beaten egg, and Woolworths brand GF breadcrumbs.

There's enough chop suey left for a third serve or leftovers. Yum for lunch the next day. If you wanted to make this meal stretch to four people add an extra 1/4 of a cabbage  and an extra carrot to the recipe.

I have a blog on my regular shopping haul if you're interested. It makes going to the supermarket easy. This recipe and and many other meals can be put together in less than half an hour from my weekly staples. I also have been posting other recipes on my blog you can find them under the cooking series category.