Jap Chae
Submitted by glory on April 02, 2003 at 7:22 pm

When I posted about having made this dish for bettina and her son when they visited, another poster (friend o'mine) thought I was making an ethnic slur calling this Jap Chae. Well, it doesn't have a darn thing to do with Japanese people nor does it have to do with a girl whose favorite "whine" is "I wanna go shopping". (Uh, oh, nobody get offended...just have a bowl of this traditional Korean dish and you'll feel better!)

JAP CHAE (STIR FRIED GLASS NOODLES WITH VEGETABLES)

1 pound Asian vermicelli noodles (made from Mung Beans not rice)
13 tablespoons sesame oil
2 medium sized sweet onions, julienned
2 carrots, julienned
2 red bell peppers, julienned
6 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 cup dried wood ear mushrooms and or dried shitake mushrooms, soaked for 1/2 hour in hot tap water until soft, woody ends removed, cut into slivers- or any other fungi that looks good!
10 cloves minced garlic
5 TBSP. sugar
1 pound spinach, stems discarded, steamed or sautéed with a bit of salt and pepper (go easy on this)
1 1/4 cups soy sauce
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Optional: 1 lb. of quarter inch sliced sirloin such as for shabu shabu. I first marinated the beef in a bottled teriyaki marinade I had in the house, but I think it could simply be pan-fried in a bit of sesame oil and be fine. I pulled this into small bits after it was cooked as I have seen this done by various folks I have met over the years.

In a bowl, soak the vermicelli in hot water for 10-15 minutes. Drain the noodles, drop into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, and then rinse in cold water. Cut the noodles with kitchen scissors a bit as you would spaghetti to make them more manageable for eating. 2 inch lengths are fine. (This is not an exact science!)

Heat a large pan. Add 4 of the tablespoons of sesame oil. Add the onion, carrot, red bell pepper, scallions, mushrooms, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir-fry on high heat for a few minutes, until the vegetables are cooked, but still a little crisp. Transfer the vegetables to a HUGE (I mean enormous) bowl.

To the pan add 4 TBSP sesame oil, 4 tsp. sugar and ¼ cup soy sauce and the noodles Stirring to coat let cook for about 2 minutes. The noodles are glutinous and will stick to the pan, so don’t cook longer than the 2 minutes. Add to the huge bowl, add steamed spinach, sirloin if desired, toasted sesame seeds, another 4 tsp. sugar, 1 cup soy sauce, and another 4 Tablespoons sesame oil. (The oil keeps the noodles from sticking and adds flavor).

Transfer to a platter. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Yield: that huge bowl will be full, sorry this recipe originally said that it yielded 8 servings. Our family of 4 made this on a Sunday and ate it all week so I think that is a bit of an error!