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Undoubtedly one of Elaina’s favourite Korean dish! We searched high and low for Jap Chae when we were in Seoul recently but it was nowhere to be found. Either because we were looking at the wrong places or it is something that people typically prepare at home, and not readily available when dining out (which would be rather strange).
To help her get over her disappointment, I promised that I will attempt to make this when we return home and did in fact make good that promise except that the recipe which I had relied on was a flop in my opinion. Elaina enjoyed it nonetheless. Goes to show how desperate she was. Then on, I studied a few recipes and tried to pin the different steps together which I think should work and yield an acceptable result.
Despite the variance in all the recipes, the only bit that was notably consistent was the call for the ingredients to be stir-fried separately and finally mixed together in a bowl as that was touted to be the authentic way of making Jap Chae. However in the interest of time, certain ingredients (for instance the onion with the carrots and the beef with the mushrooms) can be cooked together. To the untrained tongue of mine, I really could not tell the difference in taste between the two methods.
The one thing I did learn was the different types of soy sauce the Koreans use in their cooking. I did some extensive reading on this topic and it was insightful. The variations within each culture and each being different from the other culture was simply mind boggling. I recently decided to bite the bullet and bought a bottle of the Korean regular soy sauce (to add on to my already exhaustive list of condiments sitting in my kitchen) for my next attempt.
Ingredients:
- 150 gram potato noodles
- 1 onion (cut into thin wedges)
- 1 carrot (julienned)
- 2 to 3 shitake mushroom and/or wood-ear mushrooms (julienned)
- 100 gram beef sirloin (julienned) or can be replaced with chicken
- 50 gram spinach (cut into 1 inch length)
- 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic
Seasoning for beef and mushrooms:
- 1.5 tablespoons of regular Korean soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon of chopped spring onion
- A pinch of black pepper
Seasoning for noodle:
- 3 tablespoons of regular Korean soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons oil
Preparation:
- Season beef and mushrooms and set aside. Can be seasoned separately if beef and mushrooms will be stir-fried separately.
- Blanch spinach in boiling water over high heat for 1 minute. Remove and rinse under cold water. Squeeze dry and season with a pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic.
- Boil potato noodles in boiling water for around 6 minutes or until cooked. Remove and rinse under cold water. Drain dry and snip the noodles a few times with a scissors to shorten the length for easier frying and consumption.
- Sauté carrots and onions with a bit of oil and season with some salt and black pepper. Remove from pan when carrots are fully cooked and set aside in a bowl. Carrots and onions can be stir fried separately.
- Sauté mushrooms and beef with some oil until the beef is cooked. Remove from pan and into the same bowl with the carrots and onions. Similarly, mushrooms and beef and be stir-fried separately.
- Combine the noodles, mushrooms, beef, carrots, onions and spinach. Pour the seasoning sauce for noodles in and mix well.
- Return all ingredients back into the pan and sauté on medium heat for 3 min or until warm. Stir frequently to prevent noodles from sticking to bottom. I find that using the chopsticks in one hand and a spatula in another helps to flip the ingredients around a lot faster.
- Sprinkle some sesame seeds over the noodles before serving if desired.
