Paleo Jap Chae

A few weeks ago I found out there are noodles made of sweet pot starch! Whaaaaa??? I know riiiiiight?! They are the Korean noodles that I’ve always known as “glass noodles.” They’re used in this traditional Korean dish called Jap Chae. I’ve had it a bunch of times at Korean restaurants and it’s one of my favs. It can be served warm or cold. I like both.

I went to my local Korean supermarket, Koreana Plaza, which happens to be a few blocks away from one of my Crossfit gyms. #doublewinning Before I even stepped into the store, they had baaaaags of these noodles on a shelf outside on sale. #triplewinning

*Make sure the ONLY ingredient listed is “sweet potato starch” and not yam or any other additives*

I’ve had variations of Jap Chae with different ingredients in it. So I just decided to pick a few veggies that I remember being in this dish and made it up as I went (as allllllways).

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large handfuls of glass noodles
• 1 pkg of thinly sliced sirloin beef (I bought pre-sliced beef labeled “bulgogi”)
• 1 bunch of enoki mushrooms
• 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bulb garlic, chopped
• 1/2 large red bell, thinly sliced
• 1/4 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 head of cabbage, thinly sliced
• 2 stalks green onions
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

SEASONING:

*(I didn’t measure these, I’m sorry! This was a test batch so I just added a bunch, tasted, and added some more!)*

• olive oil
• sesame oil (this really brings out the smell of the traditional dish but can be omitted if you don’t have it handy)
• coconut aminos
• sugar-free fish sauce (Red Boat fish sauce)
• garlic pow
• black pepper
• sea salt

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

• Boil large pot of water
• In your largest pan or wok, lightly saute the beef in olive oil (or ghee) and some chopped garlic – should cook up fast as they are thinly sliced
• Remove beef from pan
• Saute white onions in some oil & with remainder of your garlic
• Add red bells, carrots, cabbage & mushrooms (if you have a lot of cabbage & a small pan, you can saute those separately. Basically you just want to cook your veggies through and then take them off the stove)
• When your water’s done boiling, boil your glass noodles for 5-6 minutes
• Drain (FYI they will be sticky as fack! Feel free to cut them into shorter strands if it’s easier for you, or if you get mad like I did)
• Olive oil-up your now-empty large pan
• Throw your cooked and sticky glass noodles into your pan and add more olive oil to help loosen the knots up
• Cover with garlic pow
• Add coconut aminos, fish sauce to taste
• Salt+pepper it to taste (I was tasting a lot…)
• Add sesame oil to loosen noodles up more & to add fragrance (OPTIONAL!)
• Now make a hole in your noodle nest and add all your beef & veggies back in
• Do your best to mix everything well with your tongs
• Add chopped green onions last, then mix
• After you plate your noodles, sprinkle sesame seeds over the top

This dish was SOOOOOO tasty! I loved it! My hub & brother ate it up pretty fast. I’m def making this again soon. If you follow me, you’ll know that this is probably the most complicated dish I’ve ever made. I don’t like making dishes with lots of ingredients or steps orrrr that need to follow a recipe. This took some time to prep all the veggies and cook together in the pan I had so it wasn’t the easiest or simplest but it wasn’t thaaat hard. So give it a try when you have some more time than usual.

HURLEY 

@Hurlwon snores so loud when he sleeps that my hub has trouble sleeping in the same room with him. UNFORTUNATELY, I could not kick my man out of my bedroom so my man kicked my @Hurlwon out. [Insert the saddest face you’ve ever seen HERE]

SO MY BABY HAD TO START SLEEPING ON THE COUCH AND HE WAS MAD AT US. Can you tell? Haha!

But then a few days went by and now he LOVES his new couch spot. It’s all his.