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Traditional Sapa Sui (Samoan Chop Suey) Recipe

Traditional Sapa Sui (Samoan Chop Suey) Recipe

This Sapasui (or Sapa Sui) recipe is adored in Samoa, a variation on the classic Chinese Chop Suey recipe, there are many different ways to cook this dish.

This is one of the most typical recipes in Samoan cuisine, hailing straight from the beautiful Oceanic island.

Samoan recipes are not particularly well known around the world but you might find that this dish sparks your desire to discover more Pacific recipes.

Typically, chicken, beef or pork is used in Samoan Sapasui, but you can use any or none of these meats in this recipe, it’s completely up to you.

Once you start making the dish you can experiment with levels of ingredients to make the taste that perfectly suits your palette. The ingredients used below are quite typical for a traditional sapasui but it’s also a great base recipe for adding or experimenting with.

Either way, this sapasui recipe is delicious both on its own and as a side dish.

Sapasui is also eaten in Fiji and it this recipe could be considered traditionally Fijian as well as Samoan.

Samoan Sapasui (chop suey) recipe

Samoan Sapasui Recipe

Yield: 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Sapasui is the version of chop suey enjoyed throughout the Pacific Islands in countries such as Samoa and Fiji. This authentic sapasui recipe uses chicken but beef or any other meat also works just fine.

Ingredients

  • Vermicelli noodles - 250g
  • Chicken meat - 300g
  • Peanut oil - 2 tbsp
  • Large white onion - 1
  • Soy sauce - 1 cup
  • Carrots - 2
  • Grated ginger - 1 tbsp
  • Water - 1 cup
  • Chicken stock cube - 1
  • Pepper - to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat your peanut oil in a pan and on a medium heat add crushed garlic, chopped onion and ginger.
  2. Once the garlic starts to slightly brown, add your meat and carrots cut into matchsticks, and leave to cook.
  3. In a separate pot cook your vermicelli noodles according to the instructions on the pack.
  4. To the meat add your soy sauce, a cup of the noodle water and your stock cube, and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
  5. Once your noodles are cooked, snip them to around 5cm long and stir them in to the mix.
  6. If needed, add more soy sauce and water in small doses to get your required consistency.
  7. Add pepper to taste and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 382Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 69mgSodium: 3670mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gProtein: 33g

Watch: Cooking Samoan Sapasui

You can discover more variations on cooking the Samoan speciality dish and incorporate them into your own style if you like.

Chop suey is always popular with family and friends so don’t feel shy about experimenting, as long as you retain the authentic core elements then guests will be happy to try it.

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