Why Japchae is deceiving. And bonus photo!
13 Oct
If you’ve never made this before, how long do you anticipate it would take, from start to finish, to make this dish?
All you really do is cut some vegetables, sautee them, then bring them all together. From the time I started chopping the veggies to the moment when I collapsed on my couch, it was an hour and a half later!
My suggestion to you, dear reader, is to chop up the vegetables the night before so that you don’t die of starvation when you’re done cooking. Or, start on super full stomach to eat on another day.(Why am I so dramatic? I don’t know either.)
This is going to be a long post – so let’s get started.
Recipe: Japchae- Korean stir fried veggies with vermicelli noodles
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients:
1 package of vermicelli noodles
1 bunch of spinach
1 cup of mushrooms (shittake is best but I used oyster)
1 large onion, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced into thin strips
5-6 pieces of thinly sliced beef (or small beef chunks)
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
3 teaspoons of sugar
3 cloves of minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
1. Pour 3 cups of water in a large pot. Bring to a boil.
2. In a frying pan coated with oil, sautee carrots and onions until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Season with salt. Place into large mixing bowl.
3. Cut off the top of the spinach bunch with a knife. Rinse very carefully, by washing each piece under running water.
4. The spinach is going to be blanched, so it only needs to be in the boiling water for NO LONGER THAN a minute. Add spinach into boiling water, making sure it gets emerged fully. (This should stay in there only long enough for you to snap a photo). Take it out immediately.
5. Squeeze the water out of the spinach with your palms. Add 1/2 tsp of sesame oil and a pinch of salt. Mix well. Place into mixing bowl from step 2.
6. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a big pot, this time, for the noodles.
7. Cook the beef in the same frying pan, with 1 tsp. of soy sauce and garlic. Cook thoroughly. Place into same mixing bowl from step #2.
8. After the noodles have cooked for 8-9 minutes, remove and drain. Do not rinse with cold water. Immediately, add sesame oil to keep it from sticking together. Using a pair of clean scissors, cut noodles to more manageable size.
9. Bring all the ingredients together into big mixing bowl. Add soy sauce and sugar. Mix together and serve.
I don’t pan fry the noodles as the ingredients are sufficiently fried. However, you should pan fry it slightly when reheating as microwaving really decreases the yumminess of these vermicelli noodles. Enjoy!!
Bonus:
Here is a picture of the instructions on the back of my vermacelli noodles. Does anyone know what daaing is? Should I submit to www.engrish.com?
