Frying colours Korean noodle (japchae) recipe

This sweet potato noodle stir-fry dish will feature at Min Hui Lee's Korean restaurant Frying Colours when it opens in Melbourne's Kensington this month.

Frying Colours japchae

Ingredients

250g sweet potato starch noodles (Korean vermicelli, or 'dangmyun' noodles) available from Asian grocery stores

150g of porterhouse or sirloin beef

1 bunch of spinach

1 medium size carrot

1 medium size brown onion

5 dried shiitake mushrooms

5 white mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic

7-8 spring onions

soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, black pepper, sesame seeds

Preparation

1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in room temperature water for a few hours until they become soft. Squeeze the water out of them and slice thinly.

2. Finely slice the white mushrooms.

3. Shred a carrot in 5cm thin strips.

4. Slice 7–8 spring onions into 5 cm long pieces then cut them in half if needed to maintain thin consistency throughout the dish.

5. Finely slice the brown onion.

6. Slice the beef into thin strips 5mm-1cm in size.

7. Marinate the beef strips with 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 tbsp soy sauce and 1/2 tbsp sugar.

Cooking

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, then add the noodles to cook for 3 minutes. Try the noodle after three minutes to ensure it is properly cooked. It should be soft and be translucent. Once it is good to go, drain the noodles and set them aside in a large bowl. Keep the boiling water in the saucepan for use again later.

2. Take some kitchen scissors and cut the cooked noodles in the bowl several times which will make the noodles easier to mix and serve later in the preparation.

3. Reheat the boiling water from earlier then add the spinach and stir it gently for 20 seconds. Take the spinach out, then leave them in the drainer and cool to room temperature. Using your hands, squeeze the spinach gently to remove the remaining water out of the spinach, then cut it into 5cm pieces. Add the drained spinach to the bowl with the noodles.

4. Now add to the bowl, 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of sesame oil.

5. In a heated frying pan, place a few drops of vegetable oil and your carrot strips and stir it with a spatula for 15 seconds then add sliced brown onions with a few more drop of vegetable oil. Stir them all together till the brown onion becomes slightly cooked which would take about 30 seconds. Place them together with the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

6. Do the same for shiitake mushrooms and white mushrooms. Keep them all together in the bowl.

7. Heat the frying pan with vegetable oil then add the marinated beef strips. Stir fry the beef till they are cooked properly. Add the beef to all the prepared vegetables.

8. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 3 tbsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper to the large bowl.

9. Mix all ingredients in the bowl thoroughly, serve warm and garnish with 1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds on the top.

Serves 4