Stir fried vegetables with chewy glass noodles

When I go out to eat Korean barbecue with my friends, a lot of them gravitate towards rice or rice paper as their carb of choice. For me, I love my japchae and Korean potato salad! I find myself liking my japchae with a predominant sesame oil taste. This is my version of this mixed veggie noodle!

When choosing your noodles make sure they are the “sweet potato noodle” bag in your local asian market. These glassy and bouncy noodles are an amazing carrier for these stir fried veggies. I have personally even used brisket with this japchae recipe and it came out amazing. Having these dried noodles in your pantry to use up any leftover meat and veggies is a good way to save things from going to waste. I’m going to stop using the word “noodle” now.

Making sure to rinse your noodles (oops) after you cook them ensures they do not continue to cook and to prevent them from sticking together.

All of the vegetables here are optional and adding your own preferred veggies is encouraged! Make sure to julienne them so they are all the same bite sizes.

If you would like, you can replace it with regular egg or ramen noodles and it’ll still come out delicious!

This is an easy “bulk” recipe that you can use for the upcoming holidays!

*Me fake cutting some green onions to emphasize my knowledge of Korean American cuisine, as a Vietnamese cook with severe imposter syndrome.*

Ingredients
refrigerated
1 peeled carrot or 1 bag of shredded carrots
1 yellow onion
1 green onion
A bag of spinach
Dried shiitake mushrooms or fresh
1 red bell pepper
6 oz of beef: can be ribeye or a skirt steak
4 cloves of garlic minced

oils and vinegars
3 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
4 tbsp of sesame oil
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Baking and spices
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
other: 8-10 oz of sweet potato noodles

For garnish: sesame seeds and green onion

If you are located in a city where there are not a lot of asian markets, you can purchase your noodz here!

Directions:

-(If you are using dried shiitake mushrooms, add them to a bowl and cover with hot water and cover for 20 minutes)

-Take your choice of beef and cut into bite sizes and add 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp of fish sauce, and set aside in a bowl to marinade

-Julienne your carrot, red bell pepper and mushrooms(make sure to drain and set aside on a paper towel), and cut your yellow onion and set in a bowl. Coat with one tablespoon of sesame oil, and add your 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper each and mix.

- Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil on medium high heat

- Begin to boil a large pot of water on the side for your noodles

- Once the pan gets hot, add your meat (including the marinade) and saute for about 3 minutes

- Take out your meat and leave any oil for flavor in there and if the pan seems to be a bit dry, add more vegetable oil to coat your pan.

- Add your cut veggies and saute for about one minute while stirring.

- Add another tablespoon of soy sauce and fry your vegetables for another minute

- Add your noodles to the boiling water and cook

- Add your meat to the vegetable stir fry and incorporate on a medium heat

- Add salt and pepper to taste, then drain noodles when ready (about 6-8 minutes)

- Rinse your noodles with cold water to prevent sticking and continuous cooking.

- Take off your pan off of any heat and add your noodles and mix with another tablespoon of soy sauce and two tablespoons of sesame oil.

- Cut noodles if you like cut noodles, I personally do not.