Japchae is traditionally made for parties or celebrations, but I like to make it for a light lunch or part of a big dinner. Dried sweet potato noodles can be found in most Asian supermarkets. They are incredibly chewy but healthy and delicious. This recipe works as a side dish (banchan) or can even be served as an appetizer or light snack.
Ingredients
Makes 4 or 5 servings
Preparation
Step 1
Cook the sweet potato noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Be sure not to overcook the noodles, or they will lose their chewy texture. If you like, cut the noodles with scissors into 6- to 7-inch lengths for easier eating.
Step 2
Blanch the spinach in boiling water. Rinse immediately under cold water, squeeze the water from the leaves and form into a ball, and then cut the ball in half. Combine the spinach, half the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of the sesame oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Set aside to let the flavors soak in.
Step 3
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef, the remaining garlic, 1 teaspoon of the soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil. Stir-fry until the beef is cooked, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion, mushrooms, and carrot and cook until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the green onions and stir-fry for another minute. Remove from the heat.
Step 4
In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the noodles, beef mixture, spinach, remaining 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and the sugar. Serve warm, sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Leave a Review
Reviews (13)
Back to TopThis is one of my favorite recipes across the board. Entire family likes it too.
Lisa E
Seattle ish
1/4/2023
Made a few changes based on what I had on hand and to reduce the amount of work involved. Soaked noodles in boiling water until al-dente (about 5 min), then drained (no rinsing!) and tossed with the 1 T sesame oil. Omitted spinach because I forgot to pick it up so added all the garlic to the pan when cooking the beef (next time will add 1 more clove garlic!). Added 5 sliced shitake mushrooms I had on hand with the rest of the veggies. And used used a whole sweet onion. Even the kids liked this one!
kaviNY
Long Island
12/23/2014
I get the feeling that someone was very excited to find this recipe...
joedylish
San Antonio, TX
11/7/2013
Made this last night for dinner--liked it very much. Will reduce the sugar just a bit the next time. I agree that you need it for the flavor balance, but it's just a tad too sweet. I made it vegetarian, and also a completely different trio of veggies--cabbage, red pepper and baby zucchini. A good, quick dinner.
zoebnj
woodglen, nj
9/30/2013
I was very excited to find this recipe. I already had the sweet potato noodles from a trip to a Korean market with my Korean stepgrandmother. She made japchae for me while I was visiting but I forgot all about it until I ran across this recipe. Turned out very close to her version. I did take a short cut with spinanch. Instead of blanching it in water I steamed/sauteed the damp leaves in a pan with sesame oil and the garlic and cooked it until most of the moisture was gone. This cooked and seasoned it all in one step. Then I used the same pan to stirfry the veggies. I skipped the beef since I was serving it as a side dish with salt and pepper shrimp (from finecooking.com).
chefsherry1
Hollywood, FL
11/13/2010
Very yummy. Would probably keep on heat a little longer just to stir the heat through the noodles. Also, though the amount of sugar was nice if I made it again I'd probably halve it.
biancayh
8/3/2010
I used rice noodles because our Whole Foods did not have the sweet potato noodles, and left out the beef. The flavors were absolutely perfect. I was a bit reluctant to use all that sugar at first, but found that it really did balance the flavors without making the dish too sweet. Unless you are serving this as a main dish, it serves more than 5 people easily.
Anonymous
Sherborn, MA
6/22/2009
The recipe is great. I had to make minor changes because I had a 12 oz bag of noodles, and I had a zucchini and some bean sprouts that begged to be used. They just meant upping the vegetables and doing a couple more steps. It also meant that I needed to add more soy sauce and sesame oil, but nothing else was really different. Make sure to use toasted sesame oil. It makes a huge impact on the flavor. Also, use a spicy gochujang sauce. It’s wonderful. Oh, and I bought this incredible black garlic umami sauce. If you see it, get it. So fantastic.
Jessica
Houston
8/3/2023
