1. Ingredients for Japchae
- Primary ingredients: Glass noodles (noodles made from sweet potato)
- Secondary ingredients: Basic seasoning (soy sauce and sesame oil), meat (pork or beef) and various vegetables (spinach, carrot, mushroom and onion)
2. Taste evaluation
-Spicy: ☆☆☆☆☆
-Salty: ★★★☆☆
-Sweet: ★☆☆☆☆
-Sour: ☆☆☆☆☆
-Toasted flavor: ★★☆☆☆
3. Introduction to Japchae
One of Korean foods people enjoy on special days like birthdays, weddings or anniversaries would be Japchae.
Chewy sweet potato noodles cooked with various vegetables and meat have attracted the people around world.
Especially, Japchae is the famous at a restaurant in New York. It’s known as a healthy food since sweet potato noodles and various vegetables are main ingredients.
Japchae has two meanings. First, it means ‘various (jap) ingredients are sliced (chae)’ and secondly, it refers to ‘a mixture of different (jap) vegetables (chae).’
It
was originally a gift, stir-fried vegetables, from Lee Chung to the
King in Joseon Dynasty era. It has been said that the King appointed
Lee Chung to a high position after he tasted it.
Originally,
Japchae referred to stir-fried vegetables but people started to put
glass noodles made from sweet potato starch in the beginning of
1900s.
Today, Japchae is all about sliced ingredients. The basic ingredient would be glass noodles and you could add meat, spinach, carrots, mushrooms and onions.
You might notice two things when you try Japchae. First thing is about sweet potato noodles and the second thing is soy sauce.
from sweet potatoes that make them chewy, thin and transparent.
Secondly, Japchae uses soy sauce for salty taste like any other Korean food. Dark sauce made by fermenting soybeans for a long time has deep and flavor taste.
Japchae is so delicious that it attracted New Yorkers’ appetite but it is not that common cuisine cooked at home because it is quite complicated to cook.
First of all, the noodles should be well boiled to be chewy. And five ingredients including meat and vegetables should be seasoned and pan-fried all separately.
It’s not easy even for Koreans so that only experienced cooks make it and beginners often fail to cook it perfectly.
It’s complicated and difficult to cook so even Koreans could taste it only on special occasions.
But you’ll be able to try it at Han-jeongsik (Korean Table d’hote) restaurants where traditional Korean meals are served.
Han-jeongsik(Korean Table d’hote) consists of traditional Korean foods that are prepared with sincerity and Japchae is included most of the time.
As a dish that even lured the King who only ate best food, Japchae is one of traditional Korean food you shouldn’t miss while you travel Korea.
4. Kinds of Japchae
Japchae has a very simple and short history that there are not many kinds.
Glass noodles are used in every kind of Japchae, and the traditional cuisine uses meat and vegetables.
Recently, the ingredients are simplified that only one or two ingredients are used, which are Kongnamul (bean sprouts) Japchae, Buchu (leek) Japchae, and Beoseot (mushroom) Japchae.
The most famous one in the world is Gogi (meat) Japchae, which is glass noodles mixed with sliced beef, spinach, carrots, mushrooms and onions.
5. How to enjoy Japchae even more
Korean meal mostly consists of white rice and a few dishes.
Japchae is one of dishes to eat with rice. So they normally are put in the middle of the table and each person picks up a small amount of dishes at once.
Japchae is noodles but if you think it is one main dish and solely eat it like spaghetti or pad thai, you might get a look from everyone else.
Japchae is normally served at Korean restaurants.
If you love it so much and want it more, you could probably ask for one more dish for free.
There is something called Jeong (정; bond and attachment) in Korean people. Especially serving food once is regarded as cheap so asking for one more is perfectly okay.
But keep in mind that there is no “free” meat as it is expensive.
