Celery Chow Mein

Nationalism – what really is that?  The Webster dictionary describes it as “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups”.  The first sentence of the description is nice – loyalty and devotion to a nation.  I think we should all be loyal to and devoted to the nation we live in irrespective of whether it is the nation we were born in or not.  We should respect and follow the laws of the nation we live in.  But then what spoils nationalism for me is the words subsequent to that sentence – why would I want to exalt one nation over another?  Actually why should one nation be exalted over the other?  What makes one nation superior to another?

This brings to mind the ever-green song of John Lennon - “Imagine”.  The lyrics of the song go something like this:

“…Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace

You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one…”

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

500 grams celery, sliced

1 onion, chopped

60 grams butter

500 grams chicken, cooked and shredded

2 tbsp soy sauce

60 grams mushrooms

2 ½ glasses chicken stock

Worchester sauce to taste

2 tbsp corn flour

500 grams egg noodles, cooked

Method:

1. Wash, trim and cut celery into diagonal slices, ¼ inch thick.  
2. Chop onion and sauté together in butter for about 5 minutes.  
3. Add celery, mushrooms and soy sauce and cook for 10 minutes.  
4. Add the shredded chicken and the seasoning.  
5. Mix corn flour with the stock and add to the mixture.  Cook till thickened.  
6. Serve hot over boiled noodles.