henever I go with a group to a Korean BBQ joint, it seems that I’m always
stuck eating Banchan, or the array of appetizers that traditionally come before the meaty main dishes (I’m not big on meat). But I’m not complaining – Korean appetizers are simple and delicious. Most are spicy, pickled vegetables, such as kimchi, but one of my favorites in the standard appetizer set is Jap Chae, which are Korean glass noodles. For me, a bowl of Jap Chae is a standalone meal. Sweet potato noodles tossed with fresh, stir fried veggies and dressed fragrant sesame oil? Yes, please.
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Recipe from Steamy Kitchen (also at end of post)
Sweet Potato Noodles
It was $1.99 for 1lb of clear noodles from the Korean supermarket. They’re made from sweet potato. Mrmm.
They come in small bunches – but they’re long in length, so it’s a good idea to cut them after they’re cooked.
The noodles are for some reason, translucent grey. Most vermicelli noodles are clear – it must be the sweet potato making them dark? The boiled water also turned grey.
Chop the Veggies
You can use any kind of mushroom in Jap Chae, but I think shittake mushroom or wood ear works the best. Both have a nice earthy flavor. I usually keep dried shittake mushrooms on hand.
Shittake mushrooms take a while to reconstitute in water, so it’s usually the first thing I do before I start cooking.
Preparing all the aromatics – garlic, green onion, and onion.
I received my vegetable box today and it included a bunch of beautiful carrots.
Okay…maybe some aren’t so beautiful. Siamese carrots!
Drying off a bag of baby spinach. (You can use regular spinach in this recipe, too)
Sliced mushrooms and bell pepper. The recipe doesn’t have bell pepper but I thought it would be nice to have something crunchy.
Stir Fry Time
Time to stir fry everything together! The aromatics go first – garlic, onions, and the bottoms of the green onions.
Next is the veggies – carrots, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Oh yeah – and sprinkle some salt in every time you add something new to the pan.
Adding spinach so it wilts down. This makes it easier to handle, especially if you don’t have a wok.
Finally, adding in noodles and the sauce.
Yummy! I love Jap Chae.
Serves 4-6 as part of multicourse meal | Recipe from Steamy Kitchen
1/2 pound dried Korean sweet potato noodles
2 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3/4 cup thinly sliced onions
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 stalks green onions, cut into 1? lengths
1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced* (shitake, wood ear)
1/2 lb spinach, washed well and drained
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Fill a large pot with water and boil. When water is boiling, add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and toss with only 1 tsp of the sesame oil. Use kitchen shears to cut noodles into shorter pieces, about 8 inches in length. Set aside.
In bowl, mix soy sauce & sugar together. Add the cooking oil in a wok or large saute pan on high heat and swirl to coat. When the cooking oil is hot but not smoking, fry onions and carrots, until just softened, about 1 minute. Add the garlic, green onions and mushrooms, fry 30 seconds. Then add the spinach, soy sauce, sugar and the noodles. Fry 2-3 minutes until the noodles are cooked through. Turn off heat, toss with sesame seeds and the remaining 1 1/2 tsp of sesame oil.
*rehydrate your mushrooms if you are using dried
That looks really good Paula! And that’s my favorite dish too, and I always super secretly wanted to order a plate (or bowl) of that stuff by itself….
@HKT
Me too! It’s so good.