Japchae, stir fry glass noodles, is a popular Korean dish made with sweet potato noodles, vegetables, and meat (or vegetarian substitute). This recipe is quick, delicious, and good for you!
4shitake mushrooms sliced thinly with stem removed
1medium-sized onionsliced thinly
1stalk green onion short strips
100gramsfresh spinach
Garnish
1teaspoonsesame seed
1large egg for Jidan egg garnish fixings
Instructions
In a small nonstick pan, sprinkle sesame seeds cook until fragrant and golden brown on both sides. About 3-5 minutes. Set aside.
In a bowl, stir together all the beef marinade ingredients. Cut beef into thin strips, pound to flatten, add into the marinade and mix well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or longer if refrigerated. (Slicing against the grain and Shaoxing cooking wine makes meat tender )
Cook the glass noodles in a pot of boiling water for 6 minutes. Stop the cooking process by rinsing it in iced cold water. Strain. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for noodles sauce, Soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. Stir until all sugar dissolves. Add to the cooled glass noodles and toss.
4.Blanch spinach into a hot pot of salted water for a minute and cool quickly into a bowl of ice-cold water.
Squeeze-out marinate and stir fry beef in high heat for about a minute or until it turns brown.
In the same wok, reduced heat to medium, add carrots and cook for 1 minute, add bell pepper, scallions, and mushrooms. Careful not to overcook the vegetables, as we want to maintain their slight crunch. By this time, the glass noodles absorbed the color and flavor of its sauce. Add the flavored glass noodles and cook further for 2 minutes. Toss the rest of the ingredients and add the spinach.
Cook the egg garnish or Jidan. Separate egg yolk and egg white, dash with salt, and mix a bit. In a small pan, with a thin layer of oil. Pour the yolk mixture and spread it over the bottom of the pan. Ideally, as thin as a crepe. Cook over medium-low heat, Flip the egg yolks with a spatula and cook for another minute. The same goes for egg white careful not to let it bubbles or turn brown. For a quick fix, simply cook a flat scrambled egg and cut it into long strips.
Plate the Japchae garnish with egg strips and shower with toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Notes
Always great to start with mise en place, having all of the ingredients at your fingertips will make cooking a breeze. So, gather all the fixings, and let's start cooking!