Japchae

Recipe by Tara Deshpande

This is a signature dish from Korea and one of my favourites. It was a staple in the court of the Joseon dynasty and its origins go back to the 16th C. Jap means vegetable and Chae means mix. The word Chop Suey is the more commonly used term. This dish is traditionally made for birthdays and anniversaries and symbolises longevity. In this dish every vegetable must be cut long over 4 cm and the dish must have 5 coolers that represent 5 directions N,S,E,W. The Koreans recognise the centre as a direction also. For this dish you must find sweet potato noodles. It cannot be made with regular noodles. Also this dish is not spicy. It has a delicate mellow flavour.

Ingredients
100 g sweet potato noodles 
1 green onion
1 carrot,
20 g dried wood ear mushrooms
30 g fresh oyster or shittake or enoki mushrooms 
20 g onion chives
10 gms garlic chives (if available) 
1/4 piece orange or red bell pepper, finely sliced
cooking oil 

For garnish
2 tbsp sliced green onion stalks
1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
2 tsp toasted sesame oil or regular sesame oil

For the Sauce
4 tsp soy sauce 
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic, ground
1 tsp sesame oil black pepper to taste 
a pinch of sesame seeds

Method
Soak the sweet potato noodles in room temperature water for 1 hour.
Cut the onion, carrot, mushrooms, chives into long pieces of 4 cm each.
Heat a large pot of water on a high flame.
Meanwhile, saut&eacute garlic in the sesame oil in a wide skillet on medium flame until fragrant but not brown in colour.
Add remaining ingredients and vegetables.
Add a cup of water and cook until sauce thickens and vegetables are tender.
Add noodles to boiling water for 1 minute.
Drain immediately and toss noodles with tongs quickly
Add some cooking oil in pan. Pan-fry the vegetables and remove them from the pan.
Now pan-fry the sweet potato noodles with the sauce.
Drizzle some toasted sesame oil over the noodles and toss.
Garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately.