Japchae – Korean Noodles
Korean noodle dish of
shiny, fluorescence multicolored japchae noodles steamed with generous portions
of vegetables, juicy pieces of marinated beef and a sesame seed sauce. Made
with sweet potato noodles which are slippery and chewy, this recipe is sort of
stir fry and sort of a noodle salad and delicious.
Japchae
Japchae is one of the most
popular Korean noodles whose preparation I would qualify as a sort of a stir
fry, sort of a salad. At least in my mind it can be described as the best of
the two worlds because stir fried vegetables actually follow the noodle and
sauce tossing process in a bowl and are served slightly warm.
To make this awesome, you
begin to combine the sauce in a very huge bowl and then heap up all the base
materials; it starts with the noodles, then a mountainous heap of the steamed
vegetables and finally the sautéed marinated beef. And then at last, you give
it a good flip to combine everything in the bowl where it is prepared. This
part is really satisfying, once you get really stuck in! (Just bear in mind
however that you should use a really big bowl or else then you are going to be
cursing!)
Ingredients in
Japchae
Below is the list of the
ingredients that will be required for one’s Japchae preparation. I’ve broken it
up into: I’ve broken it up into:
1. Noodles and sauce
2. Beef and marinade
3. All the colourful veg!
The Noodles &
Sauce
Some notes on some of the
pictured ingredients:
Dangmyeon or Japchae
noodles – The Japchae noodles, or noodles used in the Japchae recipe are dried
sweet potato noodles. They are produced from sweet potato starch and the rice
turns translucent when cooked. It’s like the Korean version of glass
noodles I tell you! The packets illustrated above can be bought in large groceries
in the Asian section, however, if bought in an Asian store they would be
cheaper.
Replace with glass noodles
that is, the clear vermicelli noodles. And although all the Korean nationals
might give me a headline for such a statement, please, do not shout, you can
actually make this recipe with any noodle. Of course; it will still be tasty.
Soy sauce – This
could either be the light soy sauce or the all-purpose soy sauce. However, dark
soy sauce – the flavor is too acute, and too much color abides in it! If you
want more details on which soy sauce to use and when, go here.
Liquids: sesame oil –
untoasted sesame oil is yellow while toasted is brown and has a richer flavor.
The sesame oil, which is native to the Australian market, is traditionally
toasted; untoasted sesame oil is less available.
Beef and Marinade
For today’s recipe, we’re
using beef short ribs. Yes, it is strange to use bread as an ingredient in a
stir fry – but I believe you will be surprised by the results. It surprised me!
Beef is great here; I love
to use beef short ribs in my Japchae. But as most of you know, it is not
limited to slow cooking! Beautiful when cut off the bone and then thinly
sliced, the meat is juicy, tender, and flavourful when cooked on high heat and
takes a maximum of 90 seconds. Whole beef short ribs on the other hand should
be slow cooked to tenderize the fibers; try this, this, this, or this.
It really is so much nicer
to have the beef bits extra tender and juicy in a noodle dish that is not as
saucy as Chinese Beef Stir Fry. I really encourage you to attempt to make beef
ribs! I confess that I find it to be superior to even other steak cuts commonly
much more expensive like scotch/rib-eye.
For other people –
Scotch fillet/boneless rib eye is preferable because it contains unique
tenderness or juice. Regarding other steaks such as rump, port/t-bone,
sirloin/strip, and so on (especially if bought on the cheap), I suggest that
they be tenderized before using in the recipe, to have super tender
pieces of beef (details in recipe card). Fillets are very lean and they do not
retain moisture because it takes merely a microsecond to overcook them. As
mentioned a few times, you can afford that in spicy ‘n’ sizzling Beef Stir
Fries. Not so much in noodle dishes.
Soy Sauce
Vegetables
The vegetables illustrated
below is a relatively standard mixture of vegetables used for Japchae, which
provides a good balance between color and variety of both texture and taste.
Still, you can literally select any vegetables that are suitable to be
stir-fried.
Just a note on a few of
the vegetables:
Shiitake mushrooms –
The Asian type of mushrooms that boasts of more the mushroom taste than the
normal white, brown/cremini etc However if you are unable to find them or they
are a bit expensive, you can use the normal ones. They are, of course, even
more affordable in Asian supermarkets as I have pointed out above.
Baby spinach – replace
them with chopped fresh English spinach, the leaf part of Asian greens or kale.
She lowers herself as Koreans begin to pelt her with rotten tomatoes
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