9. Japchae (Stir-fried glass noodles)

Japchae is stir-fried noodle dish made with chewy glass noodles, meat, and vegetables seasoned with soy sauce.(Gluten Free)

This stir-fried japchae is very simple, making it an easy and delicious noodle dish that anyone can enjoy cooking often.

• Soak a handful of glass noodles in advance. once the noodles soften, cut them in half. Soaking the glass noodles 2-3 hours in advance makes them easier to stir- fry. If you soak them for only 30 minutes to an hour, you'll need to add a little water while stir-frying.
• I'll use a handful (150g) of the marinated pork from yesterday (soy sauce pork bulgogi), which was prepared with pork, wine, soy sauce, and tumeric, banana syrup.

• The vegetables I took out of my fridge today are carrot, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic. Just grap the vegetables you always have in your fridge and slice them into long, thin strips. It's a bit disappointing that I don't have mushrooms today. But honestly, onion and carrot alone are enough to make delicious Japchae.

• olive oil
• Korean soy sauce 3T
• salt
• Sesame oil
• Sesame seeds
• Japchae usually includes a bit of sweetness, but since I already added banana syrup when marinating the meat, that will be enough.

• Drain the soaked glass noodles and toss them with olive oil to prevent them from sticking together while stir-frying. If you want to skip this step, you can simply drizzle plenty of olive oil over the noodles while stir-frying.

• First, add olive oil to the pan and put the garlic and meat.(Spread the meat evenly and cook it thoroughly on both sides.

• Once the meat is cooked, add the onion, carrot, and green bell pepper first and stir-fry them. Sprinkle 2-3 pinches of salt while cooking. Then, add zucchini and jalapeno and stir-fry a bit more. Finally, season with 1-2 tablespoon of Korean soy sauce and adjust the taste as needed.

• The timing for stir-frying the glass noodles is short but crucial. At this moment, focus soly on stir-frying the noodles in the pan.
• Use medium - low heat.(the other ingredients are already fully cooked.)
• Even though the glass noodles were pre-coated with olive oil, they are very sensitive to heat, so you need to stir them diligently.
• Add 1-2 tablespoons of Korean soy sauce and stir diligently again.
• Taste the vegetables, meat, and glass noodles separately to check the taste.
• Turn off the heat and drizzle sesame oil over it.
• After turning off the heat, if the taste is bland, you can add a little Korean soy sauce to adjust the flavor.

• Mix the vegetables, meat, and glass noodles well, arrange them nicely on a plate, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top to create a splendid one-plate dish.
• By focusing carefully and stir-frying diligently in the final step, you can achieve perfectly cooked japchae without it sticking together, resulting in a truly satisfying dish.

• Japchae is similar to a noodle dish, so I end up eating very little rice with it. Aged baek kimchi paired perfectly with the Japchae
• Even my picky husband always enjoys Japchae.
• Glass noodles are such an appealing cooking ingredients for me.