Vegetarian Japchae

4

servings

0.5

hours

Easy

Keto-friendly

Vegan

Vegetarian

The popular Korean glass noodle dish with stir-fried mushrooms and vegetables with mushrooms instead of meat. This recipe is surprisingly simple to cook at home and can be made without a wok.

Ingredients

8 oz (226 g) Korean glass noodles (dangmyeon)
4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
2-3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp sweet rice wine (mirim)
3 tbsp sesame oil
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 medium carrot into long but thinly pealed/shredded pieces.
0.5 lb of Maitake mushrooms (or osyter mushrooms of your choice)
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (to garnish)

Instructions

Soak the glass noodles in hot water (can either from your kitchen tap or kettle) for 15 minutes until the noodles are soft. Meanwhile, you can cut the vegetables while the noodles soften. They should feel gentle enough to break with your fingernail. If they aren’t softening fast enough, drain the water and add another round of hot water. When softened, drain and set aside.
To prepare the sauce find a mixing bowl and combine the soy sauce, water, sugar, Mirin, sesame oil, 2 cloves of garlic, and black pepper. Set aside.
Heat cooking oil in a large pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add onion and mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes. Add remaining garlic and carrots and fry until softened. Set aside.
Keeping the pan hot, add another tbsp of oil and toss in the drained noodles. Pour the sauce over the noodles and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes until the noodles are soft and the sauce is mostly absorbed by the noodle.
Reduce heat and add the vegetables and mushrooms back into the pan and toss together with a touch of sesame oil to taste.
When fully incorporated, set aside to cool. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the noodles when plating.