Again, I apologize for the delay. I hope you have all been doing well so far this year and eating anything and everything that comes your way! Today I want to share a delicious dish that my amazing fiancé made in honor of my Korean heritage called japchae. It's been years since I've eaten it, but I used to love it when I attended this Korean culture camp when I was younger. It was held at a Korean Presbyterian church in Raleigh and run by a Korean adoptee (like me) who wanted a special place where other adopted children could go feel like they belonged. There were various classes for the kids that taught them about Korean culture, food, and language, and also helped them realize that being adopted made them special, not weird. The best part was that the ladies of the church cooked lunch every day, and my favorite dish was japchae. I hadn't had it in years but I can still remember how delicious it was. Chris came with me to the camp one year and he enjoyed it as well, so this past week, he decided to attempt to make it for me, and, let me tell you - it was amazing.
Japchae (alternate spellings include japchae, chapchae, chop chae or chap chae) is traditionally served as a holiday or special occasion dish, and consists of sweet potato noodles, vegetables and meat (sometimes), is stir fried in sesame oil, and flavored with soy sauce, and sweetened with sugar and honey. The two most important parts when making japchae is to not overcook the noodles, and to get that perfect balance of sweet and savory. We looked up several different recipes and essentially combined the best parts of each to create our version, and I think it turned out extremely well, especially for Chris' first time making it!
(The prep is what takes the longest, honestly. Most recipes suggest to marinate and cook everything (meat, egg, noodles, and vegetables) individually, even separating the veggies by color and cooking them lightest to darkest. We chose to go a different route - Chris is a talented enough chef that he knows appropriate cooking times for everything, and I think it still turned out very well. If you feel comfortable enough to take the same short cut I'd highly recommend it, it shaved off a good bit of time from the whole process.)
The first thing Chris did was make the marinade. We found some recipes that called for different mixtures for each component, but we felt that this base was versatile (and delicious) enough to be used for everything. He combined honey, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, sugar and pepper, and let the mushrooms and beef sit while we prepped and cooked the other ingredients, starting with the noodles.
The trick to sweet potato noodles (dangmyeon) is to stir them continuously when you first put them in the pot so they don't stick together, and to not overcook them so they don't get mushy. You want them to pop when you bite into them, and remember, after you take them off the heat, they will continue to cook, so remove them from the stove when they're still slightly al dente. I recommend cutting the noodles after cooking, as they tend to be longer than most other types of pasta. After they cool down, they harden enough so that it's fairly easy to simply snip them with kitchen shears. For maximum flavor, you then want to marinade the noodles while you cook the other ingredients.
The vegetables we used were red peppers, onions (yellow and green), carrots and bok choy. Chris sauteéd them in a little vegetable oil (no seasoning needed), just enough so that they're soft, but still have a firmness and crunch when you bite into them. You definitely don't want to overcook these, either. When they're finished, remove them and put them to the side.
Chris added a little more oil (vegetable, preferably - something with a high burn point) and fry an egg. Every recipe we saw said to cook the white and the yolk separately, so that's exactly what he did. When each section is finished, he removed them and set them to the side as well.
After the meat and mushrooms had marinated for about 30 minutes (some recipes suggest letting them sit overnight, but 30 minutes is long enough for them to soak up the flavors), Chris sauteéd them in the wok over medium high heat, in both vegetable and sesame oil. You can use essentially any cut of beef you prefer, as long as you slice it thinly (we used eye of round). One thing to note here is that you can't use too high of a heat with the sesame oil, or else it will burn.
Once the beef is cooked sufficiently, Chris put the noodles back in the wok. This will add some water back into it, so you want to turn the heat up just enough to cook the mixture down, but not high enough to burn the noodles. After that, he added the veggies and the egg and stir-fry everything together for just a few minutes, to combine all the flavors and ingredients. Then it's done! The last thing is to sprinkle sesame seeds on top after serving - then sit back and enjoy.
I cannot express enough how amazingly flavorful this dish is. The balance of sweet and savory brings out the ultimate umami flavor, and the veggies brighten up the meat and noodles. And the noodles, oh, the noodles! They are definitely my favorite part. They soak up all the flavors and, with their unique texture, add a playful quality to the dish. It's hard to explain if you've never had them, but I highly recommend that you try them. Overall, this japchae was a success, and Chris has made it two more times since then, if that tells you anything! He's actually making it as I type this post (which is what prompted me to blog about it in the first place). It's almost dinnertime, so I need to wrap this up and go enjoy it all over again!
I'll leave you with this quote today from Julia Child: "The more you know, the more you can create. There's no end to imagination in the kitchen."
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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