Japchae

I have been craving badly for Korean food lately, so please bear with me if you always see Korean dishes for the next few posts :)

This time I share with you  a famous Korean stir fry noodles called Japchae
I used recipe from Seonkyoung Longest this time. It's really yummy but a little too sweet to my liking. The next time I cook this dish again I will make it less sweet
Too bad DH and the kids don't fancy this dish, so it's all mine! :)

I forgot to sprinkle sesame seeds!

 

This is a simple recipe but quite a lot of steps in the preparation

Here is the recipe
(I made half recipe as written below)

What you need:

For beef:
250g beef - thin slices (sirloin or chuck tender)
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp soya sauce
1/4 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tbsp mirin
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

some vegetable oils
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 medium size onion, thinly sliced
1/4 red bell pepper, julienned
1/4 large carrot, julienned
3 large shitake mushroom, thinly sliced

For spinach:
a bunch of fresh spinach
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/8tsp salt (a large pinch)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
small pinch of ground black pepper
200g Korean sweet potato noodles

For sauce:
40ml soya sauce
20ml honey (I followed the original recipe 40ml and found it too sweet hence the change here)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
small pinch of ground black pepper
more salt, black pepper and sesame oil when adjusting the taste

Method:

***Marinate the beef:
Mix beef, sugar, soya sauce, sesame oil, mirin and garlic, toss evenly and keep aside for at least 10mins - I did for an hour)

***Stir fry the vegetables and beef:
Heat a cooking pan, add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Add in onion, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 5mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in bell pepper, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for a minute. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in carrot, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 3mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in mushroom, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 2mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in marinated beef and stir fry for 7mins until cooked through and all moisture has evaporated. Remove from pan, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm

***Blanch the spinach:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in spinach and blanch for a max of 10secs. Remove from hot water (don't throw away the water!) and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water and drain. Squeeze out excess water and then mix spinach with garlic, salt, sesame oil, sesame seeds and black pepper. Set aside

***Make the omelette:
Heat a pan with 1 tsp oil and pour the beaten eggs and make thin omelette. Slice into thin ribbons when cooled

***Cook the noodles:
In the water used to blanch the spinach, add in Korean sweet potato noodles and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Cook for about 7-10mins according to the instructions. Drain and set aside. Cut if the noodles is too long (I didn't do this)

***Prepare the sauce:
Mix together soya sauce, honey, sesame oil and sesame seeds also black pepper. Set aside

***Assemble the japchae:
In a big bowl, add in noodles and the sauce, mix together until sauce is well absorbed by the noodles. Add in all vegetables and beef, toss gently to combine. Garnish with egg ribbons and sesame seeds if desired (I only garnished with egg ribbons). Serve hot or at room temperature