Japchae (잡채)
Japchae is a popular Korean dish made of stir-fried glass noodles with mixed vegetables and a protein, usually beef. It can be served both as a side dish or a main dish.
The cooking process is similar to prepping for bibimbap, where each vegetable and meat is (encouraged to be) cooked separately to enhance individual taste, color and texture before being mixed together.
I love this soy sauce based savory and sweet dish that’s both nutritious and filling!
Servings: 4-5
Ingredients
300g Korean sweet potato starch vermicelli noodle (dangmyeon)
300g lean beef (sirloin or rib eye, good for saute), cut against the grain into strips
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
2 scallion, cut in 2” segments
300g baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced
6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced with stems removed
2 eggs, beaten
Cooking oil
Sesame oil
Salt to taste
Water for boiling
Spinach Seasoning:
3/4 tsp sea salt
2 1/2tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 tsp. sesame oil
Beef Marinade:
3 tbsp. soy sauce
3 tsp. mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 tsp. sesame oil
Mushroom & Noodle Marinade:
¾ cup soy sauce
3 tbsp. honey
3 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. sesame oil
½ tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions:
1. Marinate the beef strips with the beef marinade, set aside. Clean and prep all vegetables as instructed above. Add 2 1 tbsp. mushroom marinade to the mushrooms.
2. Blanch the spinach in boiling water with pinch of salt. Drain the water, gently squeeze out excess liquid when cooled, add the spinach seasoning.
3. Heat up some oil in a frying pan and cook the beaten egg on both sides on low heat to form an egg sheet. Transfer on to a cutting board and cut the egg into strips.
4. Stir-fry onion, carrot, bell pepper mushrooms separately, season with a little salt. Put all vegetables in a large mixing bowl.
5. Stir-fry the marinated beef with scallion in a pan till all cooked. Put in the mixing bowl with vegetables.
6. Cook the sweet potato starch vermicelli noodle boiling water for 6-8 minutes, according to instructions on the package by brands. Remove from water and place in the large mixing bowl with the vegetables. Optional: Chill the noodles in ice bath or rinse under colder water if you like cold noodles.
7. Pour in the noodle marinade, add the egg strips and some sesame oil. Gently mix everything well. Sprinkle some white sesame seeds over as finishing touch.
