{"id":609,"date":"2015-09-13T17:28:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T17:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.wordpress.com\/2015\/09\/13\/vegetable-chop-suey-with-jicama-chinese-yam-black-beans-vegan-vegetarian-recipe"},"modified":"2019-12-11T02:18:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T07:18:50","slug":"vegetable-chop-suey-with-jicama-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veganlovlie.com\/vegetable-chop-suey-with-jicama-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegetable Chop Suey with Jicama & Black Beans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An easy vegetable chop suey<\/strong> recipe featuring jicama and black beans. This flavourful dish comes together quickly and the sauce can be made in advance. Black beans make a good alternative to tofu or tempeh for a soy-free meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the many things I am grateful about for having lived in a few different countries is the exciting discovery of new food items — vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, legumes — characteristic to or available in the area. But sometimes what is more fascinating is when you come across a foodstuff that you grew up with and never thought you’d see on the other side of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure enough there are the common eatables out there that are basic staples everywhere but I am talking about the more local kind of foodstuffs. The kind that you think would mostly be available in certain areas only.
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Last week, I happened to be pleasantly surprised to fall on some majestic looking jicamas! I really had to gasp with half excitement and half surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had never before seen jicama here and quite coincidentally, one of our viewers on Youtube had recently requested a recipe with jicama. I wasn’t sure I was going to find jicama in Montreal and I thought I’d probably have to make the trip to the Asian store but I found some in a Loblaws store close to my place. Woot! Without any second thoughts, I grabbed a few while my mind was already rushing with recipe ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Mauritius, jicama is more commonly known as the Chinese potato or Chinese yam, ‘patate chinois’ as we locally call it. The most common way that we enjoy it is pickled or just raw with a little salt and crushed chilies. The mere thought of what I consider to be a supreme treat makes my mouth water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve never had jicamas before, they taste something like a water chestnut, mildly sweet, crunchy, watery and starchy. I really cannot contain my elation so I will be sharing the pickle recipe too in another post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jicama are easy to prepare. They can be peeled just like you would peel a potato. Infact, they are even easier. Lift a small section of the skin and pull the skin off. It should come off clean and easily. Once peeled, you can cut it into small pieces or however you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this recipe — Vegetable Chop Suey<\/strong> — a very common dish in Mauritius, because the jicamas that I got were fairly large, I am only use half. This was a good excuse for me to just munch on the other half, sliced and sprinkled with salt just like I love to eat them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you can’t find jicama, you can substitute them with water chestnuts or bamboo shoots (or both) in this recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as the protein in this dish goes, on another day, I would have opted for tempeh or tofu but the addition of black beans instead actually worked pretty well — a nice substitute if you are trying to avoid or reduce soy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also I have kept this recipe completely oil-free as I think vegetable chop suey is so packed full of flavour that the oil is not even required. But feel free to use a little oil when sauteing the vegetables if you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little suggestion, if you are not serving this vegetable chop suey dish right away, I recommend you keep the sauce and the pre-sauteed vegetables separate until you are ready to serve. That is what I tend to do, for example, if I am having guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, when mixing the sauce with the vegetables in the final stage of cooking, I am also reheating the meal. Otherwise, reheating after everything has been mixed will result in the vegetables being overcooked, losing their taste and bright colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the recipe video for the easy step by step process of how to make Vegetable Chop Suey with Jicama and Black Beans.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n