Japchae – the bright, colourful Korean noodle dish made with an abundance of vegetables, juicy bits of marinated beef and a sesame-forward dressing. Made with sweet potato noodles which have a unique slippery, chewy texture, this is sort of a stir fry, sort of a noodle salad, and 100% YUM!
Freshly made Japchae – Korean noodles
Japchae
Japchae is a famous Korean noodle dish that I describe as sort of a stir fry, sort of a salad. It’s a cross between the two in my mind because stir fried vegetables are tossed with noodles and sauce in a bowl rather than on the stove, and served barely warm.
You start by mixing the sauce in a giant bowl, then pile all the ingredients in one after the other – the noodles, a giant mound of cooked vegetables then lastly the seared marinated beef. Then finally, you give it a big toss to mix it all together in the bowl. This part is really satisfying, getting really stuck into it! (Just make sure you use a really big bowl else you’ll be cursing!).
The sauce is mixed in the bottom of the bowl then noodles are added on top
Big bowl of vegetables for Japchae – Korean noodlesThen all the vegetables and beef are piled on top before mixing it all together
Bowls of Japchae – Korean noodles
Ingredients in Japchae
Here’s what you need to make Japchae. I’ve broken it up into:
Noodles and sauce
Beef and marinade
All the colourful veg!
The noodles & sauce
Here’s what you need for the noodles and sauce:
Japchae – Korean noodles ingredients
Some notes on some of the pictured ingredients:
Japchae noodles – The noodles used in Japchae are dried sweet potato noodles called dangmyeon. They are made from sweet potato starch and are almost transparent when cooked. It’s like the Korean version of glass noodles! The packets shown above are sold at large grocery stores in the Asian aisle, though you can get them cheaper at Asian stores.
Substitute with glass noodles (ie the clear vermicelli noodles). And though Korean nationals may have my head for saying this, just quietly, you can totally make this recipe with any noodles. It will still be delicious!
Soy sauce – Either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.
Sesame oil – toasted sesame oil is brown and has more flavour than untoasted (which is yellow). The default sesame oil sold in Australia is toasted, untoasted is harder to find.
Beef and marinade
We’re using beef short ribs in today’s recipe. Yes, it’s an unusual option for a stir fry – but I think you’ll be really impressed. It surprised me!
Japchae – Korean noodles ingredients
Beef (choices!) – Beef short rib is my favourite cut to use in Japchae. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just for slow cooking! When cut off the bone then thinly sliced, the beautifully marbled meat is juicy, tender and flavourful when cooked quickly on high heat – just 90 seconds. (If using beef short ribs whole, however, they must be slow cooked to break down the tough fibres. Try this, this, this or this recipe).
It really is so much nicer to have the beef bits extra tender and juicy in a noodle dish that is not as saucy as your everyday Chinese Beef Stir Fry. So I really hope you give beef ribs a go! I honestly think it’s better than even pricier steaks like scotch / rib-eye.
Other options – Scotch fillet/boneless rib eye is best, as it is the juiciest. If using other steak cuts like rump, porterhouse/t-bone, sirloin/strip etc (especially if economical), I recommend tenderising them before using in the recipe so the beef pieces are extra tender (directions in recipe card). Thin strips of beef are difficult to keep juicy as they overcook in a microsecond. As mentioned above, you can get away with that in saucy Beef Stir Fries. Not so much in noodle dishes.
Soy sauce – As above!
Marinated beef for Japchae – Korean noodles
Cooking beef for Japchae – Korean noodles
Vegetables
The vegetables shown below is a fairly common combination for Japchae, with a lovely contrast of colour, textures and flavour. But you can really use any stir-fry-able vegetables you want.
