So we add maybe a cup and a bit more of dark soy sauce into pot, mix it all up … take a whif of that aroma. Run a little taste test.
Good?
Then you’re done.
The Aftermath
All these photos are screen grabs from videos of the last time I made chop suey. The problem is, we were so excited to eat the sapasui (with our faalifu kalo mmmm) that we forgot to get images of the final product.
You’re going to have to wait till I make it again (hopefully this weekend) for me to get a proper completed sapasui photo, but until then… just imagine the chop suey a little bit darker than in these photos and a little bit shinier. That’s what it looked like in the end.
Sapasui – Samoan Chop Suey
A classic Samoan style chop suey the way a Hamo Geek Girl’s family loves it.
- 1 kg brisket or chuck beef, diced ((or chicken, pork or lamb))
- 1/2 cup onions (diced)
- 1 tbsp ginger (minced)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tbsp peanut oil
- 250 grams green bean vermicelli ((1 packet))
- 2 cups dark soy sauce
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- water (as needed)
- Marinate the diced beef in 1 cup soy sauce, plus salt and pepper. Let sit for at least half an hour. You can chop up the aromatics while you’re waiting.
- Heat up a large soup pot and add the peanut oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the beef with its marinade. Let brown for a few minutes, then add enough water just to cover the beef.
- Put the lid on the pot and bring the beef to the boil, then turn the heat down and let simmer. After about 10 minutes, mix the onions, ginger and garlic into the beef, then cover the pot again and let simmer for another 10 minutes (until the beef is tender).
- Do a quick rinse of the vermicelly spools then place them in a wide bowl and cover with hot water from the tap (not boiling water). As soon as the noodles have softened, grab a scissors and make two cuts into the handfulls of noodles. (I like my noodles fairly long, but if you like them shorter, by all means cut some more).
- The meat should be tender by now (try it out, and check if it needs more salt, while you’re at it). Pull the vermicelli out of the hot water and add it to the beef (but don’t throw out the soaking water just yet. We might need it.) Mix the vermicelli into the beef… mmmmmm… I can already smell it from here.
- If you’re stirring the beef and see that it’s beginning to get dry at the bottom, add some of the noodle’s soaking water. Sapasui should be nice and slippery, never dry.
- Stir in the other cup of dark soy sauce…and if you think your chop suey needs more colour (let’s just say it does) maybe add even more soy sauce. With some experience, you’ll know how you like it.
- Once all the noodles are the same colour and everything is heated through, you’re done. Grab a bowl of rice or a piece of coconut cream taro and get ready to spend a few minutes in Samoa food heaven.
DISCLAIMER: I just guessed all the ingredient measurements above.
The last pot of chop suey I made fed more than 10 Samoans, so I just did some calculation mathematicals in my brain to try and break the recipe down to feed a ‘normal’ sized family and… well, how about you meet me half way with this one? 🙂
E fua i le va’ai <– the Samoan mantra for cooking: You measure with your eyes.
Sapasui should be dark and shiny, with more noodles than meat and should make a *slip slop* kinda sound when you’re eating it hot.
Most importantly, it should taste really good… to you.
Good luck!
How do YOU like it?
SO that’s how we make Samoan sapasui in my family. How do you like it?
I really like sapasui with chicken. Some people like to use chicken or beef stock instead of plain water in this recipe – that’s really good, too.
I personally don’t like vegetables in Samoan sapasui, which is weird, because I think vegetables are great in Chinese chop suey. Maybe I just want Samoan sapasui to be different from its Asian namesake.
How do you like to eat sapasui?
My hands down favourite is to eat sapasui with a hot bowl of rice. . .but I really love it with kalo now, too. And potato salad is pretty good, too.
For me, though, every time I eat Samoan sapasui, I feel like I need a bowl of oka (Samoan style raw fish), too. I guess I’m so used to having both sapasui and oka at the same meal for to’ona’i.
What a privileged Samoan life I must have.
Would love to hear your thoughts about our favourite Samoan noodle dish. Please share in the comments below :).
Grew up in Porirua and always saw the Povi Masima buckets in the supermarkets (your, or another Samoan’s, post about it).
Ate at a LOT of PIC Church functions and always ate the chop suey and raw fish. The noodles there tended to be glistening white/transparent, though, not black. Still a favourite dish, however.
But I always ‘suffered’ for it overnight/the next day. After a few occasions where the chop suey ran low (or even ran out!), but I had had plenty of raw fish, I realised it must be the raw fish I reacted to. Still didn’t stop me eating and enjoying – at the time.
Moved to Wanganui and was invited to lunch after church on my first/second Sunday. (Palagi church.) The elderly hostess proudly produced ‘raw fish’ as the main food item. When I mentioned my history, she hurried to offer some left-over chicken in the fridge, instead, but I – heroically – said I’d rather enjoy raw fish and suffer later than miss out on it. Turns out she used lemon juice – and it’s the coconut milk/cream I must react to. *Sigh*
Still enjoy the rare times I find Samoan/Island chop suey at an event, though.
I Love Sapasui!!!!
I make it Raro syle(veggies).
But its such a huge favorite with the kids
Thanks for sharing.