Kang Japchae

christina1kang

Sweet Potato noodles (Dangmyeon) - one “bunch” for about 4 to 5 servings

6 to 7 dried Wood-ear (black mushroom)

2 shitake mushrooms cut in thin slices

½ green bell pepper cut in matchsticks about 2 inch long

1 small yellow onion cut in thin slices and then cut in forths.

2 carrot cut in 2 inch matchsticks (or buy pre-cut matchstick carrots)

1 green onion bunch cut up into 2 inch long very thin pieces

2 garlic cloves diced

1 bunch Spinach (full grown, not baby spinach)

Soy sauce

1 to 2 TBLS Veggie or olive oil

Sesame oil

Black pepper

Granulated sugar

Sesame seeds

subheading: Prep:

45 min before you want to make Japchae or the day before, soak Wood-ear in water so it can become soft. You can also soak it while you are cutting all the veggies and cooking the noodles. Then drain and rinse mushrooms and cut into small chunks and remove any hard chewy sections.

Step 1: Boil water in a large saucepan and add the sweet potato noodles. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes depending on how well your water is boiling. Test the noodles to ensure not too chewy and then remove from heat and drain water. Run cold water through the noodles and transfer to a bowl. Immediately pour a little sesame oil and mix throughout noodles so they don’t stick together. Then using scissors, cut the noodles into about 6 inch length. I do this by holding the noodles in the air and snipping them at the length that hangs past my hand.

Step 2: heat 1 to 2 TBLS in a large sauté pan. Then add veggies: wood-ear, shitake mushrooms, carrot, yellow onion, green pepper and garlic. Sauté until the onions start to be translucent and the veggies become soft. About 3 min stirring occasionally. Turn off and let sit another min cooking in pan then remove to a bowl. While cooking the veggies, boil some water and cook the spinach about 3 minutes. Then drain, rinse in cold water and squeeze out as much water as possible. Then cut spinach into 2 inch pieces.

Step 3: In the big pan you cooked the veggies in, heat sesame oil and then add noodles. Sauté for a minute and then add in the cooked veggies, spinach and the green onion. Sauté 2 min. Remove and put in large bowl.

Step 4: in the large bowl, add a few grinds of fresh black pepper, add 1 to 2 TBLS of sesame seeds, drizzle 1 to 2 TBLS of sesame oil, add 1 teas of sugar, add ⅛ cup of soy sauce. Taste and then see if needs more soy sauce. Generally it will need more soy sauce for the extra saltiness and it takes a minute for the first amount of soy sauce to soak in. But you can decide what taste you like.

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