I was first introduced to japchae by my mom. She had a lot of Korean coworkers and was curious about the noodle dish that they would bring to work. They gave her their japchae recipe. When she tried it at home, she was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to make!
Japchae is made with a potato starch noodle that is naturally gluten free and can also be used for other dishes like soups and stew. I don’t think these noodles can be found at regular grocery stores, so you will have to go to an Asian grocery store for them. I recommend getting the bags that portion out the noodles into 7-8 oz bundles.
The most time consuming part of this recipe is preparing all the vegetables. It’s worth taking your time on the slicing and dicing though! You want the veggies to be consistent in shape and size, so they cook at the same rate.
Many other recipes for Japchae have each ingredient cooked separately and then everything is tossed in a bowl with the sauce. I think this is to avoid overcooking some of the veggies because you want them to maintain their crisp.
However, if you time everything right, you can successfully cook everything in one pan by adding them in the order of their cook time. No extra dishes here.
Keep your sesame seeds on your noodles, not the floor,
Your favorite alternative chefs, K & T
Vegan Japchae
Ingredients
8 oz potato starch noodles
Sesame oil
Sauce
- ¼ cup tamari
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- pepper to taste
Stir Fry
- ½ tbsp neutral oil
- 1 large carrot julienned
- 1 red pepper cut in strips
- ½ onion sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms rehydrated and sliced
- 2 green onions chopped in 2 in pieces
- 6 oz fresh spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
Sesame seeds
Instructions
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Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook per instructions on the bag. When the noodles are done, pour in a strainer and run under cold water. Drizzle with a little bit of sesame oil to keep them from sticking together.
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Combine together sauce ingredients and set aside for now.
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In a large wok, heat up the neutral oil over medium heat. Add in carrot and red pepper, saute for 2 minutes. Next add onion, garlic, and shiitake mushrooms, saute until onions become slightly translucent. Lastly, add green onions and spinach, saute until spinach is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Add noodles to the vegetables and pour in the sauce. Toss until everything is coated in the sauce and the noodles and vegetables are well mixed together.
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Sprinkle sesame seeds on top before serving.