Chop suey (Simplified Chinese: 杂碎, Traditional Chinese: 雜碎; pinyin: zásuì; Jyutping: zaap6 seoi3; Cantonese Yale: jaāhp seui) literally means mixed pieces. Roughly, it means chopped up odds and ends, alluding to "leftovers". Its origin is contested. Exactly what it consists of varies from place to place, but its most common form consists of meats (usually chicken or beef, also shrimp, pork, and others) cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. It is typically served with rice; it becomes the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the addition of a bed of deep-fried noodles.
In its current form, it is not an authentic Chinese dish, but part of American Chinese cuisine and Canadian Chinese cuisine. It is also a relatively new addition to Indian Chinese cuisine. There are various colorful stories about its origin: it is alleged to have been invented by Chinese immigrant cooks working on the United States Transcontinental railway in the 19th century, or by a visiting Chinese dignitary's cook, etc. For this reason, it is often considered to be of American origin.
