Make Japchae (잡채) with Jenny!
We know you have been waiting for the promised japchae (잡채) recipe!!!
Koreatown Storytelling Program had a blast cooking with and learning from Jenny and Cathy during our last foodmaking workshop of the year. Watch the video and see when the Halmonis decide to just … take over, hand-taste (손맛) style.
Did you know japchae was once a “royal dish”?
Lucky for us, we can now enjoy japchae anytime. It has many ingredients to prep, but is surprisingly easy to make. If you want to learn how to make it yourself, we recorded Jenny’s recipe below!
(Make sure to get the soy sauce Jenny recommends—there was almost a Halmoni showdown when Cathy picked a different brand)!
Jenny’s Japchae!
Ingredients:
¼ Pound angus prime beef chuckroll bulgogi
1 Medium carrot
½ Medium sweet onion
1 Yellow bell pepper
7 ounces Dangmyeon (glass noodles)
¼ to ½ Cup dried woodear mushrooms
1 - 2 Tbps sesame oil
¼ to ½ Cup soy sauce (Jenny uses Chung Jung One Low Sodium Seatangle Soy Sauce)
Avocado Oil
Salt
Black pepper
Recipe:
Fill two large pots with water, in one place the dried mushrooms and in the other the noodles. Set aside for ingredients to soak.
Fill a pot with water. When water boils, blanch the spinach only until wilted. Shock in cold water and then squeeze out water. Take a handful of spinach and make two perpendicular cuts, cutting the handful into fourths. Season with sesame oil and a pinch of salt.
Clean all the ingredients. Cut the carrot into matchsticks. Thinly slice the onion and yellow bell pepper.
In a large pan sautée the carrot in avocado oil, once slightly softened add the onion, mushrooms, and yellow bell pepper. Season to taste with salt.
Transfer the veggies off heat into a separate bowl when onions are still slightly crisp.
Add the meat to the pan with a tablespoon of sesame oil, black pepper, and salt to taste.
Once the meat has fully cooked, add back the veggies, add the noodles and spinach and then mix well until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Season with ¼ cup soy sauce, sugar, then taste and add as needed.
Top with sesame seeds then serve and enjoy! 맛있다!