Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey)
Slippery glass noodles tossed with pork, soy, and ginger, the potluck and Sunday lunch Samoa borrowed and made its own.
Samoan · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~451 cal · 35g protein · 23g carbs · 24g fat · 2g fiber · 3g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sapasui is a Samoanisation of the words chop suey, and it arrived with the Chinese labourers and traders who came to the islands in the early 1900s. A century on, it is so woven into island life that no one thinks of it as foreign.
It appears at every fa'alavelave, the family gatherings that mark weddings, funerals, and title bestowals, at the umukai feast, and at church lunches, always made in an enormous pot. Bean-thread glass noodles are soaked soft, then tossed with soy-and-ginger pork or chicken and whatever vegetables are on hand.
Part of its charm is that it is as good cold as hot, so it holds up on a long table of shared food. Every Samoan family has a slightly different version, and most will tell you theirs is the correct one.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, egg- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
8 oz bean thread (glass) noodles
Hard to find? rice vermicelli - close in size but not in behaviour: bean thread turns slippery and translucent and holds its bite, while rice vermicelli goes soft and can break up if it sits in the pan
1 lb pork mince
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot,
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 tbsp oil
3 , sliced
to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
1
Soak the glass noodles in hot water until soft and clear, about 10 minutes, then drain and cut roughly with scissors.
2
Brown the pork in the oil with the garlic and ginger, breaking it up as it cooks.
3
Add the onion, carrot, and celery and stir-fry until just softened.
4
Pour in the soy sauce and a splash of water, then add the drained noodles and toss until they soak up the sauce and turn glossy.
✎ Chef’s note
Glass noodles drink liquid fast. If the pan looks dry, add water a splash at a time so the noodles stay slippery rather than sticky.
5
Finish with the scallions. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Samoan fa'alavelave cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Upolu. Sunday is the fixed point. The umu is loaded early, the family goes to church, and the to'ona'i is eaten afterwards, taro and breadfruit and palusami and whatever fish or pork was put in, opened all at once. The oven is built on heated volcanic stones rather than deep in a pit, though accounts differ on how shallow the pit should be.
🗺️
Samoa. Coconut runs through the kitchen in three forms: the water, the grated flesh, and the cream squeezed out of it, which is poured over young taro leaves for palusami and over raw fish for oka. Taro and breadfruit supply the bulk, and cooking is organised around the aiga, the extended family, rather than around single households.
🌍
Oceania. Oceania spans Australia, New Zealand, and thousands of Pacific islands, where the ocean and the coconut palm define the pantry. Traditional Polynesian and Melanesian cooking centers on root crops, taro, yam, cassava, and sweet potato, slow-cooked in earth ovens (the umu or mumu) alongside fresh reef fish and rich coconut cream. Modern Australian and Māori kitchens blend these deep roots with waves of Asian and European influence.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Samoa
Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels)Taro leaves wrapped around rich coconut cream and onion, baked until silky, the crown of the umu feast.
Koko AlaisaSamoan cocoa rice: short-grain rice simmered with rich local cocoa, coconut, and sugar into a warm, chocolatey porridge.
Fa'ausiWarm squares of grated-taro cake folded through a dark, salty-sweet coconut caramel, a Samoan Sunday favorite.
Browse all Samoa recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
Make it a Samoa meal
Koko SamoaDrink
Fa'ausiDessert
Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels)Dinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey)?
Slippery glass noodles tossed with pork, soy, and ginger, the potluck and Sunday lunch Samoa borrowed and made its own.
Where does Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey) come from?
Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey) is a Samoan dish from Upolu, Samoa.
Can Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey) take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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