Gluten Free & God Seeking

Monday, February 13, 2012

Making Jap-Chae with a Korean Student

       Food is a big part of culture.  We've learned that from hosting several international students--so far we've had students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, and China.  In the fall of 2010 we hosted J.K. a college student from Seoul.  We cooked together a few times when he lived with us, and even when he moved out later with a friend, he came to the Friday night dinner and Bible study. 
      Last fall he went to Virginia to study for a quarter, and when he returned in January, all the students had a welcome home dinner.  Jon another Korean student made two Korean dishes, and I was planning to make some jap-chae, which is a Korean noodle and vegetable dish. This is somewhat like chow mien, but the noodles are made from sweet potatoes!  Things were getting kind of hectic in the kitchen that night, so I asked J.K. to help me finish up this dish.  He gave me permission to take a picture of him cooking.  


Sautéed Korean Noodles with Veggies (Jap-Chae) – Serves 10

1.  Prepare meat:  Rinse and then slice 1 lb beef into 1/8” pieces. 

2.  Soak mushrooms:  Put 10 dried mushrooms into cold water for 1 hour.  Squeeze out and then thinly slice.  

3.  Prepare vegetables: 
(1)  Slice up 2 onions lengthwise
(2)  Shred2 carrot
(3)  Mince 2 cloves of garlic,
(4)  Slice 1 green pepper into thin strips. 

4.  Prepare noodles:  Cook up 1 pack of sweet potato noodles (about 1 pound)  in boiling water for 7 minutes.  Immediately drain and rinse in cold water.  You can also put in two 9 x 13 pans and pour boiling water on and soak them for 30 min.

5.  Cooking the beef: 
  Put 2 T oil in an electric skillet/wok and stir fry the mushrooms, garlic, 1 T tamari, 1 t sesame oil and the beef to the pan.  Put in a covered pan while cooking the veges.

6.  Cooking the veges: 
(1)  Put 2 T of oil into the pan and add the vegetables with 1 t of salt and cook for 3-4 minutes.  
(2)  Add the meat to the vegetables.  
(3) Then add the noodles
(4)  Mix 1/2 cup tamari mixed with 3 T sesame oil and 1/8th cup of sugar and stir into the pan. Taste and then add extra sesame oil or tamari.

You may be wondering if the noodles break--these sweet potato noodles are very strong, and they hold their shape quite well.  This beef noodle dish is delicious!   
 
Other Korean Recipes on this blog:

Bibimbap
Korean BBQ Chicken
Jap-Chae
Bulgogi Rice Bowl  




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