Vegan Japchae Noodles
This Korean sweet potato vermicelli dish is the perfect party food! Full of veggies, flavour, and bouncy, chewy noodles, this dish is a household favourite.
Servings: 4 -6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 bunches sweet potato vermicelli noodles about 400g, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Carrots:
- 1 carrot finely julienned
- ½ tsp salt
Mushrooms:
- ½ lb about 200g flower/shiitake mushrooms, stems removed then sliced
- 2 tbsp brown sugar or oliosaccharide
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
Spinach:
- 1 box 1 lb/453 g baby spinach OR 2 bunches of Korean spinach
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- ½ tsp salt
Remaining Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ bell pepper sliced into 2 inch length pieces
- ½ block of tofu I used fried tofu, sliced into long thin slivers, like a thick julienne
Japchae Sauce:
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar or oliosaccharide
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Noodles:
- In a very large bowl with warm water, soak the sweet potato vermicelli until soft and pliable, about 30 minutes.
- Drain and set aside once ready.
Carrots:
- In a large pan or wok, stir fry carrots over medium-high heat with salt until your desired texture: I like them softened with a slight crunch. If you are using a julienne peeler, this will only take a few minutes. If you julienned them by hand, you make need a few extra minutes to cook.
- Once cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
Mushrooms:
- To the same large pan or wok, add mushrooms, brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and toasted sesame oil.
- Stir fry over medium-high heat until mushrooms have absorbed all the liquid seasoning. This should be about 10 minutes.
- Remove from pan and set aside.
Spinach:
- In a large pot of boiling water, blanch the spinach for about 90 seconds if using baby spinach, or about 4-5 minutes if using Korean spinach. Drain immediately and then shock with cold water to halt the cooking process.
- Drain and squeeze out the excess water.
- Chop if you want smaller pieces (specifically for the Korean spinach if you have not done so already), and then season with garlic, toasted sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, and salt.
- Mix well to season and set aside.
Remaining Ingredients:
- In the same large pan or wok, stir fry over medium-high the sliced bell pepper with vegetable oil until cooked as desired. Like the carrots, I like the bell peppers to still maintain a tiny bit of crunch.
- Once cooked nearly to the texture you like, add the sliced tofu and stir fry to heat through and crisp. You can add a touch of soy sauce for extra seasoning if you'd like.
- Remove from pan, then set aside.
Japchae:
- In a bowl, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, and 1 cup water to make the sauce.
- In the large pan or wok, add your soaked and drained noodles and the sauce mixture (soy sauce, oliosaccharide/brown sugar, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce and water).
- Cook the noodles over medium heat, stirring occasionally to make sure all the noodles absorb the sauce evenly. Taste to check that the noodles have cooked through, they should be tender but still slightly chewy, and fully transparent but not falling apart.
- Use scissors to cut them to about approx 6 inch pieces for easier handling (and eating)
- Once the noodles have fully cooked through, turn off the heat, then the prepared ingredients (carrots, mushrooms, spinach, bell pepper and tofu) and mix well to combine.