If you’ve never tried Korean Stir-Fry Japchae Noodles before, now is the time to run to your local Korean grocery store and get Korean sweet potato glass noodles and make this dish. It’s addictively delicious.
Make sure to buy 100% sweet potato starch noodles, not laced with other crappy ingredients. The ingredient label should say sweet potato flour or starch and water, that’s it.
EASY VEGAN JAPCHAE | Korean Stir Fry Glass Noodles
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
For the noodles
- 340 g (one 12 oz bag) Korean sweet potato vermicelli/glass noodles (aka Dangmyeon) (made with 100% sweet potato starch)
For the vegetables
- 400 g spinach (about 2 medium bunches) chopped into 2-3 inch long pieces
- 200 g thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms (about 10 mushrooms)
- 200 g julienned carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
- 100 g julienned red bell pepper (about 1 small red bell pepper)
- Any neutral oil or toasted sesame oil
- Salt
For the sauce
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 7-8 tablespoons tamari (or any other soy sauce of choice) (adjust seasoning accordingly since some soy sauces are saltier than others)
- 2-3 tablespoons organic brown sugar or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3-4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 3-4 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. When boiling, add noodles, stir, and par-cook them for about 1 minute or until the noodles are slightly pliable. Remove the noodles from the pot and rinse well in cold water; set aside.
- In the same pot of boiling water, add spinach, stir, and cook for about 10 seconds. Drain spinach and wash them thoroughly under cold water. Once they are clean, take a handful at a time, and squeeze out all the excess water, then set aside. Season with a pinch of salt.
- Heat a large pan (preferably one with deep sloping sides; similar to a wok) over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil and julienned shiitake mushrooms. Sauté mushrooms for about 3-5 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil, julienned carrots, and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, and set aside.
- In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil, julienned red bell peppers, and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, and set aside.
- Whisk together all the sauce ingredients and add them into the same pan (make sure your pan is large enough to fit all the noodles. If not, you can use a pot for this step).
- Bring your sauce up to a boil, then add the par-cooked noodles. Cook the noodles until most of the sauce has been absorbed into the noodles, stirring constantly. Do not overcook the noodles. They should still maintain their chewiness.
- Once most of the sauce has been absorbed, turn off the heat, and transfer noodles into a large bowl. Add all the prepared vegetables (spinach, mushrooms, carrots, red bell pepper). Toss to combine everything using tongs and/or your hands.
- Garnish with some additional sesame seeds if desired. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
It was delicious:))
Yay! Glad to hear that you loved the recipe. 🙂
Once you add noodles to boiling sauce how long to cook generally for sauce to cook down?
Time will vary depending on the noodles and what type or size of pan, etc…. but generally 5-7 minutes or so…
Easy and delicious. I took this to a geography club potluck for Korea. It was a hit. The best part was that our vegetarian friends felt included. Sometimes we forget to be mindful of dishes that don’t have meat yet still are not vegetarian friendly.
Aw! Glad to hear that you loved the recipe! What a nice dish to bring to your potluck. So happy that your veg friends felt included. 🙂