JAPCHAE
Author: Hyeon Jeong
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: Korean
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Japchae is one of my all time favourite dinners. A bona fide classic of Korean celebration food. Perfect for dinner parties, Chuseok and Seol.
What You’ll Need
- 170g Medallion Steak (Fillet Mignon)
- Vegetables
- Vegetable Oil for frying
- 1 Onion, Thinly Sliced
- A Few Pinches of Sea Salt
- 6 Chestnut Mushrooms, Thinly Sliced
- 6 White Mushrooms, Thinly Sliced
- 1 Red Pepper, Thinly Sliced
- 1 Orange Pepper, Thinly Sliced
- 1 Carrot, Thinly Sliced
- 130g, Spinach
- 300g, Glass Noodles
- Beef Marinade
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- ½ tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Rice Wine
- 1 tbsp Mashed Garlic
- Glass Noodle Sauce
- 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- ½ tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- A Pinch of Pepper
- Finishing sauce
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- ½ tbsp Rice Syrup
- A Pinch of Roasted Sesame Seeds
- A Pinch of Pepper
How to Make It
- Freeze the steak for 1 and a half hours to 2 hours. I froze it for 2 hours. You don’t want it completely frozen, just firm. It is not compulsory to freeze the steak first but it makes it much easier to slice thinly.
- When firm, thinly slice the steak. Add all of the Beef Marinade ingredients and mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Pour a bit of vegetable oil into a frying pan over a high heat. Fry the chopped onions with a pinch of sea salt. Remove and set aside when cooked.
- Add a little more vegetable oil to the frying pan. Fry the chestnut mushrooms and the white mushrooms with a pinch of sea salt. Remove and set aside when cooked.
- Pour a bit of vegetable oil into a frying pan over a high heat. Fry the chopped carrots with a pinch of sea salt. Remove and set aside when cooked.
- Add a little more vegetable oil to the frying pan. Fry the red peppers and the orange peppers with a pinch of sea salt. Remove and set aside when cooked.
- Pour a bit of sesame oil into a frying pan over a high heat. Fry spinach with a pinch of sea salt. Remove and set aside when cooked. As the spinach I use is Biking spinach not Asian Spinach, you don’t need to boil this spinach like Asian ones. If you boil this one, it gets too soggy later.
- Fry the beef in the frying pan without vegetable oil over a high heat. Stir occasionally until it is completely cooked.
- Boil the glass noodles in a separate pan with enough water to cover them. Boil them for 8 to 9 minutes until they are soft. Drain them in a sieve and shower them with cold water to cool.
- Add all the glass noodle sauce ingredients to a wok and the glass noodles as well over a medium heat. Mix them thoroughly for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Add all the cooked vegetables, beef and the finishing sauce to the pan and mix together.
- Sprinkle a pinch of sesame seeds and serve with your favourite side dishes.