In honor of the recently concluded Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, we hosted a potluck style dinner party with dear friends. Each couple took charge of a dish or two, and everything we ate was gold medal-worthy. So much winning that evening!
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The Occasion: Now that the Olympics are over and regular TV viewing is back to normal, you can still enjoy an easy, tasty and healthy Korean dinner at home.
Here’s a high energy K-Pop playlist (stands for Korean pop music) to motivate you while cooking or as you read on. Chap chae is an iconic Korean noodle dish often made with beef. I made a meat-free version with lots of veggies that was super-delicious. Although it’s easy enough for a weeknight meal, this is just about perfect for the weekend when you can take more time and go to town on the accompaniments. |
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The Recipe: This recipe for Korean Glass Noodles (aka chap chae aka jap chae) comes from recipe developer, cookbook author, and television chef, Jaden Hair at the Steamy Kitchen food blog. Many recipes here boast an Asian flair, and the site also features cooking shortcuts and giveaways. Check it out!
Cheers to a great night, with Soju-Apple cocktails
Serve With: We enjoyed a cocktail made with Pink Lady apples and soju (sweet potato liquor, similar to vodka) and scallion pancakes with dipping sauce to start things off right.
For the main course Jenna brought some luscious Korean short ribs made in the crockpot. Wowee wow wow, so flavorful and satisfying! The chap chae served alongside helped to soak up all those yummy beef juices. Mmmmmmm!
For the main course Jenna brought some luscious Korean short ribs made in the crockpot. Wowee wow wow, so flavorful and satisfying! The chap chae served alongside helped to soak up all those yummy beef juices. Mmmmmmm!
The scallion pancakes, called Pa Jun, made a great appetizer served hot from the pan. We would make a few refinements next time, such as adding more liquid to the batter for thinner pancakes and slicing the scallions more finely. We added carrots for the final pancake, which were a big hit. The spicy dipping sauce is excellent – you will find many uses for this tasty topping. Find recipes from The Spruce here. Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.
Kitchen Tips: I thought it would be easy to find the sweet potato noodles needed for chap chae. Chicago is an ethnically diverse city with robust international food aisles in most grocery stores and two different “Chinatown” areas with shops and products from all over Asia. Nevertheless I had to do some scouting to find the right product. Thank you to Dong-ah Food in Lincolnwood.
The Verdict: Handling the glass noodles is a little tricky, but worth the effort. Once cooked, you must cut them with kitchen shears into manageable lengths. We loved this veggie-laden dish and did not miss the meat. We needed a little extra flavor though, and drizzling the spicy sauce from the scallion pancakes on top of the chap chae made it perfect. Olympics or not, we will definitely make this dish again.
Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.
The Verdict: Handling the glass noodles is a little tricky, but worth the effort. Once cooked, you must cut them with kitchen shears into manageable lengths. We loved this veggie-laden dish and did not miss the meat. We needed a little extra flavor though, and drizzling the spicy sauce from the scallion pancakes on top of the chap chae made it perfect. Olympics or not, we will definitely make this dish again.
Click on the photos to enlarge them and read the captions.
| Print The Recipe- Korean Glass Noodles or Chap Chae |
Korean Glass Noodles (Chap Chae)
Recipe source: Steamy Kitchen
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
Recipe source: Steamy Kitchen
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 pound dried Korean sweet potato noodles
- 3 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 3/4 cup thinly sliced onions
- 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 3 stalks green onions, cut into 1" lengths
- 1/2 cup dried* or fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced (shiitake, wood ear)
- 1/2 lb spinach, washed well and drained
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
DIRECTIONS:
- Boil a large pot of water. When water is boiling, add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and then use kitchen shears to cut noodles into shorter pieces, about 8 inches in length. Toss with 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil. Set aside.
- Mix soy sauce and sugar together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Add the cooking oil to a wok or large sauté pan on high heat and swirl to coat. When the cooking oil is hot but not smoking, sauté onions and carrots, until just softened, about 1 minute.
- Add the garlic, green onions and mushrooms, sauté 30 seconds.
- Then add the spinach, soy sauce, sugar and the noodles. Cook 2-3 minutes until the noodles are cooked through.
- Turn off heat, toss with sesame seeds and the remaining 1 1/2 tsp of sesame oil.
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