Jap Chae – Korean noodle dish

I was talking to a mom that adopted two children from Korea.  She mentioned that she loved Jap Chae, but didn’t know how to make the dish.  It is a really simple and yummy dish to make.  Adapted from Steamy Kitchen with my modifications in blue.

Jap Chae Noodle

Jap Chae

*Adapted from a recipe from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound dried Korean sweet potato noodles or just a small package like above which is 12 ozs
• 2 1/2 tsp sesame oil, divided
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 3 stalks scallions, cut into 1″ lengths
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced (shitake, wood ear or baby bell is another good option)
• 1/2 lb spinach, washed well and drained
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds (I prefer toasted)

Directions:

• Fill a large pot with water and boil. When water is boiling, add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes (or you can just turn off the heat and cover for 10-15 minutes).
• Immediately drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and toss with only 1 tsp of the sesame oil. Use kitchen shears to cut noodles into shorter pieces, about 8 inches in length. Set aside.
• In bowl, mix soy sauce & sugar together. Add the cooking oil in a wok or large saute pan on high heat and swirl to coat.
• When the cooking oil is hot but not smoking. Fry onions, carrots and peppers, until just softened, about 1 minute. Add the garlic, scallions and mushrooms, fry 30 seconds. Then add the spinach*, soy sauce, sugar and the noodles. Fry 2-3 minutes until the noodles are cooked through.
• Turn off heat, toss with sesame seeds and the remaining 1 1/2 tsp of sesame oil.

*The spinach can be replaced with Sigeumchi Namul (Seasoned Spinach) instead.