Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Japchae

I've missed jap chae so much since leaving Seattle. Combined with not being able to eat onions and peppers, it's high time I made it myself. I bought a package of the Korean japche noodles in Canada, and then gave it away when leaving the country. I've found some here in the asian market and finally got around to making it. Delicious. Original recipe was for 4 oz noodles, but that was not enough. Neither was just 1 egg yolk.
Jan '23 Made this with GG and having her chop half the veggies made this go so much faster. Didn't have any scallions.
1/9/24 Had no garlic left, still tasted great. 4 eggs but XBD said it still wasn't enough.

  • 4-8 oz chapchae noodles (sweet potato starch noodles)
  • ~4 oz beef (filet mignon or pork shoulder, cut into strips
  • 2 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated
  • carrot, cut into matchsticks
  • eggs
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • scallions, cut into 2 inch long pieces
  • 4-5 white mushrooms
  • spinach
  • salt + pepper
  • soy sauce
  • sugar
  • sesame oil
  • sesame seeds

  1. Put the beef and shiitakes in a bowl with 1 clove garlic, 1 t sugar, 1/4 t pepper, 2 t soy sauce, 1 t sesame oil. Cover and refrigerate.
  2. Prepare the egg strips.
    1. For traditional yellow egg. Beat egg yolks (without the white stringy stuff) with some salt. Heat the pan and add 1 t oil. Wipe off excess oil so only a thin layer remains. Add the egg and turn off the heat (this keeps the egg as yellow as possible). Tilt to spread to thin layer. Cook for about 1 min and then flip and let it sit for another minute. Let it cool and slice it into thin strips. 
    2. For whole eggs (if you have no use for egg whites), beat the whole egg and make flat eggs (chinese fried rice style). Cut into strips. 
  3. Bring large pot of water to boil. 
    1. Blanch the spinach for 30-60 seconds. Rinse the spinach in cold water, squeeze out the water. Chop. Put in large bowl and mix with 1 t soy and 1 t sesame.
    2. Cook noodles, stirring for 1 min. Cover and cook for another 7 min until they are soft and chewy. Strain and cut them a few times with scissors. Add noodles next to spinach. Add 2 t sesame, 1 t soy, 1 t sugar (per 4 oz noodles).  Mix noodles well to season and keep from sticking.
  4. Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 t oil and saute green onions with salt for 2 min. Transfer to noodle bowl.
  5. Heat skillet with 2 t oil and cook white mushrooms with a pince of salt, about 2 min until softened and juicy. Transfer to noodle bowl.
  6. Heat skillet with 1 t oil. Add carrot and stir fry 40 seconds. Transfer to noodle bowl.
  7. Heat skillet with 2 t oil. Add beef mixture and cook until no longer pink. Transfer to noodle bowl.
  8. Add 1 garlic clove, 1 T soy, 1 T sugar, 1/2 t pepper and 2 t sesame oil to the noodle bowl and mix together. Add the egg garnish and 1 T sesame seeds.