Sleepless Travels Reloaded

Soaking the dang myeon

Raw ingredients


Dekita! Finished!

I got the Korean cooking bug again yesterday. For some reason for the past few days I’ve had a hankering for Japchae.

Japchae, (also spelled jabchae or chapchae) is a Korean fried noodle dish. It’s a traditional festive food, and commonly served at birthdays. (Source)

The noodles used are potato starch noodles (dang myeon), and it is fried with slices of shiitake mushrooms, carrots, onions, beef, etc. The sauces used are - lots of soy sauce, sugar and lots of sesame oil. Normally it’s topped off with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Here’s my Japchae recipe:

Ingredients:

• Minced garlic
• Shredded carrot
• Spring onions, sliced thickly lengthwise
• Lots of sliced dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water so it’s reconstituted and soft.
• Sliced beef, marinated in sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine.
• Eggs, seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil.
• Toasted sesame seeds

• Soy sauce (lots)
• Sugar (couple of teaspoons)
• Sesame oil (lots)
• Fish sauce
• Pepper (lots)

• Dang myeon, soaked in water so it’s soft

Method:

1. Heat some oil up in a wok. Fry garlic till light brown and fragrant.
2. Fry beef till half cooked.
3. Add carrots, spring onions, mushrooms to wok. Fry for a bit longer.
4. Then add noodles.
5. Add sauces to taste.
6. Shove noodles and vegetables to one side of wok, add more oil.
7. Pour in beaten and marinated egg. Poke it around until suitably hardened.
8. Mix up egg and noodles.
9. Make sure it’s to taste, then serve hot garnished with some spring onions and LOTS of sesame seeds.

Notes (for n00b cooking, -stares at Ray-):

1. You can use any assortment of vegetables really. Other common vegetables to use are onion, capsicum, and beansprouts. But I dislike capsicum and I personally don’t think fried onion goes well with it. It’s a personal preference thing, and for me, spring onions, carrot and mushrooms are the best combination.
2. If you soak the dang myeon beforehand, it eliminates the need to actually boil the noodles before frying. That means washing one less pot! Just make sure you soak it for some time, maybe 30 minutes? I think it’s the best way to ensure the noodles remain al dente. I wasn’t sure so when I did it, I boiled the noodles anyway after soaking it. Recipes generally say boil noodles for 6 minutes, but I only boiled it for 2 minutesd before it was edible soft. And after all that time frying in the wok, the noodles became a bit too soft for my liking. Conclusion: soak, don’t boil. 30 minutes isn’t very long, just make sure it’s the first thing you do before you prepare the other ingredients. Disclaimer: Actually I haven’t tried that method yet. But theoretically it should work!
3. Make sure the egg is quite fully cooked before you mix it up with the noodles. If it’s still liquidity, it will just mix together with the noodles and you will never see the egg again >.< Oh, and if you're feeling creative, separate out the egg yolk and egg white and fry them separately before you fry the noodles. Shred them and use them as garnish on top of the noodles. Looks pretty, but personally too much work I think.
4. Don’t throw away the mushroom water…use it as part of stock for other dishes. It’s such a waste otherwise. I’m gonna use my mushroom for a steamed egg with dried scallops dish~~

Nevertheless, the noodles turned out yummy! And I have lots of leftovers to bring to Uni tomorrow~~
Jap chae can be eaten either hot or cold, so it makes a very good packed lunch.