Japchae - Sweet potato noodles with veggies and beef

Hello again....after 2+ years away!

After my last post I got lazy for a while and then Naver Kitchen, the source for my recipes, was discontinued in December 2013 so I used that as an excuse to not continue with the blog, though I did continue to use Naver blogs as a primary source for my recipes... I've come across a few good ones lately so I figured I'd share them with you all :)

The recipe below I tried out as part of my Christmas day Korean feast (this will be a multi-part series) and it was delicious! I've tried making japchae before and always felt like the noodles didn't absorb much flavor, or the mixings all ended up at the bottom of the bowl so it wasn't a high priority to make again. However, when made well, I knew it was a crowd-pleaser so I figured I'd give it another shot.

I used the recipe featured on the blog below and added and removed veggies based on my personal taste. The items on the blog that I did not use will be marked with a (B), and the things that were not on the blog but that I did use will be marked with a (K). Feel free to add both, neither, or add your own favorite veggies!

Korean Sweet Potato Noodles with Veggies and Beef (잡채) serves 4-5 with some leftovers

Ingredients
Main Ingredients

Sweet Potato Noodles ("Dangmyun", 당면)- 250 g
Beef Tenderloin - 1/2 lb, cut into small, thin, matchstick-size strips about 2in long (I used a filet mignon)
1 Shiitake mushroom (B)
1/4 of a carrot (about 1/2 cup)
2 Korean Oyster mushrooms (saesongi mushroom) (B)
1 bunch of Korean chives (buchu 부추); you can substitute green onions if needed
1 lg onion
1 yellow bell pepper (K- blog calls out only for 1/2 pepper)
1 red bell pepper (K)
2 cups fresh spinach (K)

Beef Marinade
1 TBS Soy Sauce
1 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS sesame oil
1 TBS Mirim (or soju or other white cooking wine)
Dash of black pepper

Sweet Potato Noodle Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup corn syrup (I know this is a lot...I started with 1/4 cup and kept adding til it tasted right, which ended up being almost the full 1/2 cup the blog called for)
2 TBS vegetable oil (the blog calls for 5 TBS)
1/2 TBS minced garlic

Vegetable Mix Sauce
3 TBS sesame oil
2 TBS sesame seeds 


Directions
1. Slice all veggies (except spinach) into uniform matchstick size strips.
2. Boil a pot of slightly salted water and dump in spinach and korean chives, boil for ~10 secs, and then drain and rinse with cool water.
3. Slice the beef into matchstick-size bites and mix with the marinade and place in fridge (this can be done in advance).
4. Heat 2 TBS vegetable oil over medium heat and add the matchstick veggies, gently stirfrying until the vegetables are tender.
5. Put the stir-fried veggies and blanched spinach/chives into a mixing bowl, add the Vegetable Mix Sauce, and stir to combine.
6. In the same pan you used in step 4, gently cook the marinated beef over med-low to medium heat and then add the meat to the bowl of vegetables. 
7. Boil a large pot of water and prepare sweet potato noodles according to directions on packaging (the blog says to boil for 11 minutes, the noodles I bought said 5-6 mins and that seemed to be plenty). Once noodles are cooked, drain in a colander and thoroughly rinse under cool water. **I used scissors to cut the noodles 3-4 times so that they were easier to eat later on**
8. Mix together the Sweet Potato Noodle Sauce in a pan/pot over medium-high heat and stir in the noodles. Continue stirring over med-high heat for 5 minutes, then lower the head to med-low and continue to stir for 3 minutes. When this is done, the sauce should be almost fully absorbed/evaporated- you may need to lengthen or shorten the cooking time to achieve this.
9. Now, mix the veggies/meat into the noodles and mix well to combine. Place in serving dish and sprinkle with sesame seeds, and now its ready to eat! :)


Link to original blog post (with pictures): http://m.blog.naver.com/tokkiaka/220563822316 

Enjoy!
-ChefK

Spicy Pork Bulgogi

Hello again,

Korean food is known for being spicy, and while there are plenty of non-spicy dishes out there, spicy food is my absolute favorite. The dish for today is one that I've eaten plenty of times, but the one below is the closest I've come to recreating a dish made by a friend's mom many years ago.

The dish is called Pork Bulgogi, "Dwaeji Bulgogi" in Korean, and is one of my favorite go-to dishes when I don't know what else to cook. It's a fairly straightforward spicy-sweet marinade, mixed into thinly sliced pork, and slowly cooked over med-low heat. I've made it for coworkers, family members, and friend and have yet to find someone who didn't like it (assuming of course that they don't mind a little spicy-sweet heat). 

Enough talk, let's get cooking.

Ingredients:

Stirfry

1.5 pounds of pork (the recipe calls out for pork shoulder, but since it's hard to find a small piece of pork shoulder, I often use a boneless pork rib with a little bit of fat on it)

1 onion cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

1 large zucchini cut into half-moon shapes 1/4 inch thick (optional)
3-4 green onions cut into 4 inch sections

1 TBS cooking oil 

1 TBS minced garlic (optional)

1 TBS minced ginger (optional)

Marinade

4 TBS Korean red pepper paste (gochujang)

2 TBS soy sauce (try to avoid the less salt versions as the flavor is not as good)

2 TBS sugar

1.5 TBS corn syrup (or oligodang 올리고당 if you have it)

1 TBS Asian cooking wine (chungju, mirin, soju all work)

2 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS minced ginger

1-2 tsp sesame oil

dash of black pepper

2 TBS chili flakes 

Edible Garnishes 

2-3 cloves thinly sliced garlic

1 long red pepper sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices

1 long green pepper sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices 

1 head red leaf lettuce washed and drained 

Directions

1. If your grocery store won't cut the meat into 1/8 inch slices for you (mine won't), then place meat into freezer for about 45 minutes until it gets firm, but not frozen. Remove and slice into very thin strips (1/8 in thickness or less- the goal is for it to be thin and bite size). Place in large bowl.

2. Prepare marinade by mixing all ingredients together, leaving the chili flakes for last. You may decide to add more or less depending on your spice tolerance, keeping mind that it won't seem as spicy once cooked with the pork. Once the marinade is well mixed, add to pork and refrigerate (at least 30 minutes but I've done it up to 24 hours).

3. When it's time to cook, pour cooking oil into the pan over medium heat. I use the low and slow method keeping the heat low enough that it takes about 20-30 minutes to fully cook everything. Add in the marinated pork, sliced zucchini, and onions, and cover the pan, stirring occasionally for the first 10-15 minutes.  

4. Once the veggies are soft, remove the cover and continue to slowly cook until the meat is done. Add in the green onions about 3 minutes before everything is done and stir them in well.

5. Transfer meat to serving dish and serve with a bowl of rice. The edible garnishments can be used to make lettuce wraps (place piece of lettuce in hand, put pork, rice, garlic, and peppers on top, then wrap and eat. 

If you're not fond of fresh garlic, you can also roast/caramelize them a bit to sweeten them.

Please check out siamsun44's version of the recipe here (complete with step by step pictures): 

http://siamsun44.blog.me/60169793584

Enjoy!

First post

Hello world, 

This blog is an attempt to share recipes found on various Korea websites (but mostly Naver Blogs) with an English speaking audience. I am an avid eater who also loves to cook and I've always had an interest in Korean culture, which has naturally led to an interest in Korean cooking. When looking for new recipes, there are some great English blogs out there with wonderful recipes, but sometimes they just don't have quite what I'm working for, and so that's when I turn to Naver blogs for some help....and now I'm hoping to share them with you! 

I will always include links to the original recipe, which should include the pictures that match with my directions. 

Please let me know if you have any specific requests and I'd be happy to oblige!

Happy eating!!