How to Make: Jjapchae: Korean Stir Fried Sweet Potato Starch Glass Noodles 잡채(雜 菜)

Recently, I've been trying out some Korean food that my mother used to make for fun.  Here's the first one: Jjapchae. Jjapchae or Chapchae is a delicious noodle side-dish loaded with healthy vegetables and flavour.  The colours of this dish makes it so appetizing.  It is slightly sweet and salty with a strong sesame taste to it.  The toasted sesame oil is the real key to this dish.  It adds a unique flavour to the entire dish, so be sure you use it!  The best thing of all though, it is extremely easy to make and it is quite a fast dish to make. The noodles are made out of sweet potato starch and are labelled sometimes as ''Sweet Potato Starch Noodles,'' ''Oriental Noodles'' or just ''Starch Noodles.''  It shouldn't be very difficult to find them in an Asian Supermarket.  But if you can't find them, you can use rice noodles which are a bit thinner.  This dish is so versatile, you can just use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge.  This dish is wheat free! Enjoy this recipe!

Jjapchae: Korean Stir Fried Sweet Potato Starch Glass Noodles 잡채(雜 菜) (Wheat-Free Recipe)
Serves: 6-8 people
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium Onion- Thinly Sliced
• 5 White Button Mushrooms Sliced
• 5 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms, rehydrated, sliced
• 2 large Bell Pepper/ Capsicum 
• 2 medium carrots, sliced into long thin pieces
• 8 Green Scallion Onions cut into 5 cm (2 inch) pieces
• 340 gm of Korean Sweet Potato Starch Noodles (12 oz)
• 100 gm (One medium bunch) of Watercress 
• 3 Garlic cloves minced
• 50 gm of Sliced Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish, Squid, or Tofu.

Seasoning/Dressing:

• 2 tbsp of Toasted Sesame Oil
• 3 tbsp of Soy Sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp of Sugar or Honey
• 2 tbsp of Coarsely ground black pepper.
• 1 tbsp of Roasted Sesame Seeds

 Method:

• Add the dried noodles into a large pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes until they are soft and tender.  Remove the noodles and lightly rinse with cold water.  Put the noodles in another bowl and add 1 tbsp of Sesame Oil.  
• In the same pot with the boiling water, add in the watercress and boil for 1 minute until the leafs are slightly wilted and are bright green.  Remove the watercress and run it under cold water.  Squeeze the excess water and cut it in half.
• In a frying pan or wok on medium-high heat, add one teaspoon of any type of oil and stir fry the onion, mushrooms and garlic until soft.  Transfer to the same bowl with the noodles.  Reheat the wok or frying pan, and add another teaspoon of oil, cooking the remaining vegetables for 2 min until they are heated through and have bright vibrant colour.
• In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the seasoning/dressing and mix well.  Pour it on top of the noodle and vegetables and toss well.
• Sprinkle some additional roasted sesame seeds and ground black pepper to serve.  Serve this dish hot or at room temperature.

Tips/Notes:

• Use whatever vegetables you have, it is totally up to you.  
• Adjust the amount of soy sauce and sugar to your taste.  It should be slightly sweet.