Japchae is deliciously chewy potato starch noodles cooked with julienned vegetables which have been lightly cooked in sesame and soy sauce. Japchae is a popular Korean dish for parties.
Serving size: serves 4-6
Ingredients
100g lean beef
200g “Japchae” sweet potato noodle
1 onion cut into thin strips
1 carrot cut into thin strips
1 green capsicum cut into thin strips
6 “Pyogo” shiitake mushrooms, soaked and cut into thin strips
1 egg, white and yolk separated, each beaten, fried thinly and cut into strips
Salt
Vegetable oil
Marinade (for beef)
4 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
Black pepper
Sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp sesame oil
Directions
1. Cut beef into thin strips and marinate.
2. Soak the sweet potato noodle in water for a few minutes. Cook in plenty of boiling water for 5 minutes. Rinse in cold water and drain well. Cut noodles into roughly 10-15 cm lengths. Mix with sauce.
3. Stir-fry the vegetables separately in a lightly greased pan with a pinch of salt, set aside.
4. Stir-fry the marinated meat and the mushroom separately and set aside.
5. Stir-fry the noodles for a couple of minutes and put into a large bowl. Combine all the ingredients.
6. Add more soy sauce, sugar or sesame oil to taste. Place thinly sliced egg white and yolk on top of noodles for garnish. Heat before serving (or serve cold).
Variation: Instead of green capsicum, use green beans or English spinach lightly blanched and stir-fried. Several kinds of mushrooms can also be used to make ‘Mushroom Japchae’.