Jap-chae

On the recommendation of a friend, I tried my hand at Korean food. There's a Korean mini-mart down the street from my apartment so the starch noodles were easy to procure. (For shiitake mushrooms, I had to go to the hardcore Korean market in K-town).

Jap-chae is a Korean noodle dish which I have never actually had prior to making it, so I cannot comment on how authentic my attempt turned out. That being said, I feel the product of my efforts was not entirely undigestable, so I'm sharing it here. I will definitely be ordering jap-chae next time I go to a Korean restaurant.

I made this based on the Youtube video my friend sent me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2inbxROOCzY. Minor, irrelevant side-note: I found the narrator / chef's dialogue irritating for some reason.


The following ingredients are needed:

• 1 bunch starch noodles (I actually used 2---it was wayyy too much).
• 2 or 3 shiitake mushrooms (dried; soaked for 3 or 4 hours; seriously, don't use too many of these---shiitake mushrooms have an overpowering flavor).
• 200 grams beef (cut into thin strips).
• soy sauce (a lot).
• sesame oil (a fair bit).
• olive oil (2 or 3 tbsps).
  
• 1 bunch spinach (seriously, use the whole bunch---if you've ever cooked spinach before, you'll know that it basically disappears when boiled).
• 2 carrots (chopped into strips).
• 1 medium onion.
• 1 package of regular white mushrooms.
• 3 cloves of garlic.
• 4 or 5 scallions.

Yes, that is a lot of material, and this took a lot of effort. Truth be told, I don't think I'll be cooking it again anytime soon.


First, the noodles need to be boiled for 2 or 3 minutes. It should be soft and a little chewy afterward. When this is done, drain and place in a big mixing bowl and infuse with some soy sauce and sesame oil (to keep it from sticking together).

Next, comes the spinach. Boil the spinach (in the same water), and then drain, cut and mix with the noodles.

Now, the author of the Youtube post essentially recommends cooking each of the remaining vegetables in sequence. But since, with the exception of the beef, they're all cooked the same way for approximately the same amount of time, I mixed them all up and cooked it together in the olive oil (by them, I mean: the carrots, garlic, scallions, white mushrooms, onions). This is then mixed with the spinach and noodles.

Finally, we cook the beef with the shiitake mushrooms, and this is mixed with the rest.


More soy sauce and sesame oil is added, and we are done.

I particularly liked this dish since it has so much vegetables. I haven't been eating enough recently (see previous post), so I made this to compensate. But I think I used too much noodles, which overdid the carbs. Whatever. My diet during the last few weeks of class consisted of pizza, Chinese take-out and Subway sandwiches, so this might still rank as one of the healthier options.

Mussels and onions in XO sauce

Alrighty, here is yet another dish I cooked up during my cram week (a few take-out meals after the Roman-style shrimp).

First, I am a big fan of seafood, with the exception of some kinds of fish. Calamari, octopus, mussels, clams, oysters, sea urchins, scallops, conches are all things I adore. Hence, this is one of my favorite recipes (and one of the first I cooked on my own in New York City). It is taken from the following site, and I followed the recipe almost identically (it is easy and inexpensive enough on its own, so kudos to the original creator): http://www.deliciousasianfood.com/2008/10/01/stir-fried-mussels-xo-sauce/.


I prepared the ingredients according to the instructions posted (with slight variations in quantity).

• XO sauce, 1 tablespoon.
  
• Onion, 1 large.
• Scallions, 2, chopped into inch-long pieces.
• New Zealand mussels in the half shell, 1/2 lbs.
• Small cup of water, heated, waiting on the side (you'll see).
  

Some notes of my own: I prefer New Zealand mussels since they're huge. My local supermarket has Canadian mussels, but they're tiny and I find them unsatisfying. XO sauce is another ingredient worth discussing. It is a very unique Asian sauce which is essentially some sort of oils mixed with dried pieces of scallops and assorted sea creatures. Oh, and there's usually a touch of MSG in the mix. Now, personally, I have no qualms against MSG. I try to avoid it when it's an option, but it never stops me from eating anything interesting. In point of fact, it was once a prized spice, just as instant noodles were once a luxury. (This tidbit is from Wikipedia, but I know, citation needed). In the future, I will try to find a substitute for XO sauce. (It's also expensive, relative to other common Asian sauces).


Anyway, I prepared all the ingredients in advance. Sliced the onions and the scallions, and removed the mussels from their shells. I heated just enough oil to slick the pan and sauteed the onions until fragrant. At that point, I added the XO sauce. I cooked for a few more minutes before dumping in the mussels. I cooked the entire mix for roughly 8 minutes (mussels take some time to cook) before adding in the scallions. Finally, I added in just enough hot water to cover the bottom of the pan to help the mussels cook. At this point, I covered the pan with a lid and allowed it to cook until the sauce reduced. Finally, I served it over a bed of rice.


Looks pretty good eh? I certainly thought so. Oh, and I mixed in some chili flakes to give it an extra kick, but that wasn't in the mix originally and is very optional. Some salt would also help.