Japchae – Korean Glass Noodle recipe

Japchae (잡채) or Chapchae is a Korean dish which translates to mixed vegetables. It is a very popular dish during Korean festive holidays and usually is served as a side dish, but a bigger portion will fill you up. Japchae’s serving is flexible as it tastes good both warm and cold. This dish is prepared with sweet potato starch noodles – dangmyeon or other cellophane noodles (also known as glass, fensi or bean thread noodles) which are made of starch.

Japchae tastes slightly sweet and savory. It is combined with crunchy vegetables and beef, but you can also use pork or no meat at all. Also it is common to add fried, sliced egg as a garnish or sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Sounds delicious? Read my easy Japchae recipe below!

🕐Prep Time: 30 min 🕐Cook Time: 20 min 🥄Serves: 2 portions

INGREDIENTS

• 300 g of beef clod (shoulder)
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 100g of spinach
• Half of red bell pepper
• 3 medium sized mushrooms
• 200g of glass noodles
• 1 tbsp. Of olive oil
• A pit of black pepper

Sauce

• 5 tbsp. Soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. Sesame oil
• 2 tbsp. Brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. Of sesame seeds
• A bit of black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice carrots and bell pepper to thin strips, cut onion in half and slice lengthwise. Cut mushrooms in half and then slice lengthwise.
2. In the pan, on low heat fry sesame seeds till they get golden brown. Let them cool down.
3. Slice beef to thin strips, about 1.5cm wide, 4cm long and 0.3cm thickness.
4. Prepare the sauce: in a bowl mix soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, chopped garlic and half of fried sesame seeds. Mix it well and pour about 60% of the mixture on the beef. Mix the beef so that all the pieces would be covered in sauce. Set it aside, but don’t leave the beef to marinate in the sauce for a long time as it will become too salty.
5. Cook rice noodles as said on the packaging and set it aside.
6. Boil water in a pot. Wash spinach and put them in the boiling water. After 1 minute take them out and put in the cold water for about 1-2 minutes. Take the spinach out and squeeze as much water as possible from them. Set them aside.
7. Heat the pan to a bit more than medium heat. Pour olive oil, add onions, carrots and fry for about 5 minutes. Then add bell pepper, sprinkle with black pepper and fry for 5-7 more minutes. Vegetables must become soft. After they are done, place in a bowl and set aside.
8. Heat the same pan to high heat, add beef and chopped mushrooms. Fry for 3 minutes while flipping the beef from time to time. 3 minutes are enough for thinly sliced beef, but if you sliced thicker, cook for a minute longer, but be careful not to burn it. Put the beef in the bowl and set aside.
9. Clean the pan from the beef and heat to medium heat, add rice noodles, pour the left sauce on it and stir it so the sauce is combined with noodles. It should not take long, about a minute. Place rice noodles in a bowl/plate.
10. In the same pan add spinach and fry for a minute. Then place spinach, beef, carrots, onion, bell pepper on the noodles. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Mix it well and enjoy!