Japchae (잡채) is a Korean dish of stir-fried sweet potato glass noodles. Savoury and slightly sweet, it always has vegetables and usually meat. In this version from Seonkyoung Longest, the meat is replaced by marinated shiitake mushrooms. Just delicious!
Soak 10 to 12 dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes or until softened. Squeeze all the water out and slice them. In a bowl combine them with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of mirin, 1 minced clove of garlic and a pinch of black pepper. Leave them to marinate while you prepare the other ingredients. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add a generous amount of salt. Add a large bunch of spinach leaves for about 10 seconds then remove the spinach with a strainer. Let it cool a bit then gently squeeze out any excess water. Mix with 1 minced clove of garlic and a little sesame oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside. In the same water cook 450g (1 lb) of Korean sweet potato noodles according to the package instructions. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the vegetables. Thinly slice ½ a medium onion, 225g (8 oz) of fresh mushrooms (I used king oyster mushrooms) and 1 yellow or orange pepper. Julienne 1 medium-size carrot and 1 large red chilli. Heat a large frypan over medium-high heat and add 1 teaspoon of oil and the sliced onion. Season with a pinch of salt, and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the onion from the pan, and place it in your serving bowl. Repeat this method with each of the vegetables separately. Timings may vary according to the vegetable. Finally, add a little more oil and sauté the marinated shiitake mushrooms for a few minutes until they’re cooked through and all the moisture is gone. Add them to the bowl. When the noodles are cooked, drain them but do not rinse. Add them to the bowl with the vegetables and cut them with scissors if you want them shorter. In a jug or small bowl whisk together ⅓ of a cup of soy sauce, ⅓ of a cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds and ½ a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Pour ⅔ of this sauce into the noodles and gently mix until the noodles absorb all of the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce in and toss gently to combine. Garnish Japchae with more sesame seeds and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
michelle picker cooks 