Description
As I said, my husband and I are gearing up for a diet in the new year (we’ll see if that actually happens!). But we’ve made a laundry list of recipes we want to have before the year runs out. Most of those are pasta or bread based! Pizzas, sandwiches, and noodles. All things holy 😂.
My husband and I love Asian food, and it is a common cuisine in our house. We’ve been having it A LOT lately. And we truly love each Asian country’s cuisine. Korean food is definitely one of our favorites. We used to frequently go into NYC to have Korean BBQ, and we look forward to when we’ll be able to do that again! Although Korea is known for their amazing BBQ, they also have some delicious noodle dishes, japchae being one of them.
My husband loves this spin on japchae. Most japchae recipes are very simple, usually soy sauce and some sugar. There’s nothing wrong with that! But for a dinner recipe, I like to have a more complex sauce with more things going on with it.
Rather than just sweetness, this sauce is spicy and full of umami goodness! It is still sweetened with brown sugar, honey, and sweet chili paste. But heat is added with Gochujang, a Korean red pepper paste, and sambal oelek, a chili paste. This sauce is delicious! We like it spicy, so we use two tablespoons of Gochujang. But if you want it more mild, only add one tablespoon.
Like most japchae recipes, this dish is loaded up with carrots, peppers, mushrooms, and green onions. All tossed together with sweet potato glass noodles, which in and of themselves are delicious! We buy glass noodles from our local Asian supermarket, but they’re available on Amazon too.
This Meatless Monday dish is delicious and filling! But, if you’re wanting to make this as a side dish, it does accompany fish and meat well. A marinated flank steak would be delicious with this! But if you are making this as a Meatless Monday meal, it makes for a great, easy meal for the first day of the week! It all comes together in about 15 minutes, which really can’t be much easier!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
Noodles
1 package sweet potato glass noodles (12 to 16 oz)
2 carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
1 small red pepper, sliced
1 small yellow pepper, sliced
1 jalapeño, deseeded and chopped
8 oz brown button mushrooms, sliced
3 scallions, chopped
2 TBs sesame oil
Sauce
¾ cup soy sauce
2 TBs honey
2 TBs brown sugar
1 TB sesame oil
1 to 2 TBs Gochujang
1 TB rice vinegar
1 TB sambal oelek
1 TB sweet chili sauce
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB garlic, minced
1 TB fresh ginger, minced
1 bunch of cilantro, finely minced
Instructions
Cook the noodles according to the package. Drain and rinse with cool water.
Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl or large measuring cup. Set aside.
In a wok or large saucepan, heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Once hot, add the carrots and peppers. Cook, stirring often, until just starting to soften ~ 5 to 8 minutes. Add the jalapeño and mushrooms with 2 TBs sauce. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until the mushrooms have cooked down slightly and turned golden brown. Add the noodles and scallions with the remainder of the sauce. Using tongs, toss the noodles with the sauce and vegetables until thoroughly mixed and coated. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
Serve immediately!
Keywords: japchae, sweet potato glass noodles, korean noodles, rainbow veggie noodles, meatless monday, vegetarian dishes