Recipe: Korean Japchae

Name: Deep Dish Chicken Pie
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 8 boneless chicken thighs; 300 g chicken breast; 6 slices streaky bacon; 2 Tablespoon oil; 200g button mushrooms cut into 1/4; 1 large onion chopped; 1 clove garlic; 1 tablespoon Worchester sauce; 3 tablespoons flour; 1 cup chicken stock; 1 teaspoon fresh thyme; 14g Gelatin Powder; Salt; Fresh ground pepper; Pastry Ingredients:; 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour; ¼ tsp salt; 225 g butter chilled and diced; 1 egg; ½ cup water cold; Milk for brushing on pastry

As we count down the weeks until Christmas, the UnserHaus team are sharing their Christmas family food traditions. Here’s Chris’ recipe for Japchae (Korean fried glass noodles).

Japchae is the number one sought after dish for Korean Festivals such as New Year’s Day or Harvest Festival, but it’s also enjoyed as an everyday dish.

Serves: 3-5
Difficulty Level: Easy
Ready In: 20 minutes preparation, five minutes cooking
Appliance/cookware used: Cooktop Fry-pan

Ingredients

250g Korean glass noodles (or any other glass noodles)
100g beef mince
200g mushroom
2 eggs
120g baby spinach leaves
1 ½ grated cups carrot
1 white onion

Japchae Sauce

½ cup Korean soy sauce
1 tsp honey
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Topping

1 tsp toasted sesame
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Method

Soak Korean glass noodle in cold water until soft, then cut to the length that suits for your fry pan. (15-20cm is recommended).
Mix all of the Japchae sauce ingredients together in a bowl and put aside.
Cut carrot, white onion and mushroom into shreds.
Wash baby spinach leaves and then fry in 1 ½ tsp sesame oil until soft.
Beat the eggs, add 1 tsp cooking oil to a well heated pan and spread it well. Then, turn the cook top to low heat until both sides are well cooked. Transfer this egg pancake onto a plate. When it has cooled down, cut it into shreds.
Add 3 tsp sesame oil to a well heated pan. Cook the beef mince with a pinch of salt and black pepper over medium heat until well cooked.
Add 2 tsp sesame oil, then cook the onion and carrot with a pinch of salt until soft.
Add more oil if necessary. Cook the mushrooms with ½ tsp Korean soy source and stir fry over the low to medium heat. Keeping stirring and reduce the liquid to right consistency.
Boil some water in a large pot. When your water starts boil, add the soaked glass noodle and boil them for 1-2 minutes. Drain the water, then rinse in cold water and let the water drain.
Add 3 tsp sesame oil on the well heated fry pan, then mix the Japchae sauce and glass noodles together. Stir fry the noodles with low heat until well coated in the sauce. Add all of your prepared ingredients and 1 tsp roasted sesame oil in to the fry pan and quickly mix them together.
Serve the Japchae with 1 tsp roasted sesame topping and enjoy!