Japchae (Korean Noodle)

Allie had been a good good friend of mine. Having stayed in Vancouver for a few years, she will be returning to Korea at end of this year. Before leaving, she invited Helen and I to her house for a authentic Korean homemade dinner. She showed us how to make Japchae, a very popular Korean noodle dish. The recipe is at the bottom of this blog entry.

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Allie also served some black rice which her husband brought all the way from Korea during his last visit. I have never see or heard of black rice until now. It tastes the same as the normal rice, looks different (of course) but have a rougher texture. It is known to have high nutritional value.

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Allie also made a Seaweed Tofu Beef Soup. Allie told us that this is very popular among Korean ladies. It did not occur to me to ask her then why it is popular among ladies only. Any Korean reader here knows why?

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She also prepared an Apple, Tomato, Romaine and Chicken Salad. She used Balsamic Vinegar as dressing. The chicken used is roasted chicken. I like this, more because of the apples used in it.

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Lastly Allie prepared some “Thousand Year Eggs”. This is not Korean but Chinese.

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I love the Japchae the most. It is kind of similar to the Chinese Dry Glass Noodle except that it uses a sweet sauce. Korean dishes commonly uses corn syrup and sesame seed oil which gives that sweetness in the dishes. There is quite a bit of steps in making this but it is worth the work. Try it out.

Despite her busy schedule preparing for the move home, she found the time to share this meal with us. I am going to miss having her around the neighborhood.

Here is the recipe for making Japchae.

Ingredients

  • Potato noodle, boiled for about 6 minutes and rinse in running cold water
  • Rice cake, boiled and rinsed in running cold water
  • Green, Red and Yellow sweet peppers, thinly sliced
  • Shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced
  • Beef, thinly sliced
  • Spinach, blanched
  • Seasonings include soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking syrup and brown sugar

Please click on the link below for the instructions.

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Shao-Zi Noodles

Shao-Zi Noodles is the second dish which Julie showed us in last week’s cooking club meeting. Julie prepared the dough ahead for making the noodles. She told us she used 4 cups of flour with 1.5 cups of water and some salt (probably 1 teaspoon) to make the dough for the noodle.

The star of this dish is the meat sauce. Julie told us that the meat sauce can be made in big batch and store in the refrigerator for a few days. The noodle dish can be prepared easily using the prepared meat sauce.

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Ingredients

  • 1 lb Lean ground pork
  • 1 lb spiced bean curd, diced in small pieces.
  • sweet bean sauce
  • soybean paste
  • hot bean paste
  • soy sauce
  • salt
  • sugar
  • corn starch
  • for decoration, thinly sliced carrot, cucumber or celery

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Click on the link below for the instructions.

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Spaghetti with Meatballs

Ben started biking to work again having been driving to work for the past three months. He did not say it but I think he’s doing it because of the price of gas these days. Gosh! It is $1.16 per litre today. To think that just a couple of months ago, anything over $1 were considered outrageous.

Anyway, knowing that he would want to carbo-load with his biking and all, I thought I make good old meatball spaghetti. Arkensen and Nanzaro loves that too. I like to add lots of chopped onions and garlic and with liberal sprinkle of Parmesan.

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I learned to make spaghetti only when we got to Canada and did it my way. So, I am not very sure if this is the “normal” way spaghetti was made. Let me know if I am doing differently from the way you make it — I would most certainly want to learn from you.

Ingredients

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Oh yeah, I like to use Mrs Dash for seasoning. It’s much more healthier using Mrs Dash compared to salt. If you have never tried it, you should check it out. It goes so well with so many types of dishes that you’ll be amazed. Here are the ingredients:

  • Frozen Meatballs: I had that box in my fridge for 3 months now. Good to use that today and free up some space in the ice box. I only used half the box … still …
  • Mrs Dash for seasoning
  • Pasta Sauce
  • Spaghettini: I used spaghettini instead of spaghetti; I like the thinner version in spaghettini,
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Parsley
  • Parmesan Cheese

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Beef and Noodles

Andrea showed us how to make the Beef and Noodle in our last Richmond Cooking Club. Andrea told us that she adopted the recipe from the Canadian Living magazine and that she makes this often for her family.

It is a variant of a dry rice noodle flavoured primarily with soya sauce. This is a simple and quick dish to make.

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Ingredients

  • 6 oz rice stick noodles
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced (optional)
  • 6 oz top sirloin grilling steak or inside round marinating steak, thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli or green beans
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or 1 tablespoon of fish and soy sauce)
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1 cup bean sprouts
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley
  • lime pieces

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Steam Jah Jan Ramen

I have money, you have money; so we are friends.
~ Chinese Proverb

Panos came over to play with Arkensen and Nanzaro the other day. Panos is Norm’s best friend. Since Panos wanted to stay over for dinner and I thought I make instant noodles for the boys.

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Unlike most other single serving packets of instant noodles, the Steam Jah Jan Ramen comes in a pack for servings of four. This is just the right size for a quick lunch for our whole family. Opening it up, it’s just like any other noodles with a twin packets of seasonings. The first packet was the oil and other other is the “jah jan”. Jah Jan is basically made of fried pork fats, lean pork and soy bean paste.

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We found the instructions on the wrapping funny. It’s common to see broken English used in Made in China products. The instructions reads “After 4 minutes scooped spice of oil to stir. Then you can enjoy the delicious ramen”.

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Bak Kut Teh Instant Noodles

Not the place where I was born but where I hang my hat is home.
~ African Proverb

We found Bah Kut Teh instant noodles in the shops not too long ago. Although BKT is a common dish in Malaysia served with steamed rice but we have never come across a BKT flavoured instant noodles.

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The instant noodles BKT costs 69 cents — not cheap as far as instant noodles goes. Unless you read Chinese, you will simply miss this on the store shelves. I mean, BKT should show a simmering pot on pork, shouldn’t it?

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Myojo Ramen Char Mee 100

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not eaten well.
~ Virginia Woolf

This is our favourite instant noodle — we call it the Myojo Pedas 100. No other instant noodles comes close in comparison and it has no peers in the spicy-ness department. Although we have found some other Myojo instant noodles in many shops we have not come across this specific type. So, everytime we hear someone coming over from Malaysia or Singapore, we would go on the carpet begging friends or family to bring over some. This latest consignment comes courtesy of Rachel, little Angela and little Gabriel … specially imported from Singapore. [Rachel, Angela and Gabriel, we dedicate this blog to you!] We now have precious 15 packets — got to ration really closely because it’ll be a long while before we get our next replenishment! BTW, this is a dry noodle and not the normal soup type. This is how it looks like:

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Of all the in family, Nanzaro is the one that goes ga-ga over this the most. For a small guy, he can really take spicy food. So, the honor of eating the first pack goes to him. He has kindly consented to showing the world how he prepares the noodle. KIDS, DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF AT HOME. ALWAYS REMEMBER, SAFETY FIRST AND GET AN ADULT TO SUPERVISE YOU.

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[Dad]: Over to you Nanzaro.

[Nanzaro]: Ahem. Hello everyone. You MUST first of all make sure you have all the utensils you need. You don’t want to start looking for it midway cooking or you might rush and cause little accidents. This is what you need: a plate, pair of chopsticks, a small cooking pot with cover, and a sieve.

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Char Siew Wonton Noodle (Without the Wonton)

My mother’s menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it.
~ Buddy Hackett

Suanne and I had a big debate over how to name this dish. I mean, how can one call this a wonton noodle where there is no wonton. Anyway, it’s her dish and she gets to call it what she wants. The star of this simple dinner is the CHAR SIEW (roasted red pork). Suanne made the Char Siew herself. To make perfect char siew, you need pork shoulder butt. Suanne used some Thai made seasoning mix. She can’t recall where she bought it but should be in one of the many Asian market along Kingsway or Metrotown area (we hang around that place a lot because there is where I work, Arkensen and Nanzaro’s chinese school and our church). Here is the picture of the Roast Red Pork Seasoning Mix:

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Anyway, to cut to the chase (i.e. without showing you the whole roasting process because we did not take pictures), below is what the char siew looks like. I really like it a bit charred but trust me, it taste really GREAT.

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Now, hear this. You do NOT eat char siew like STEAK! They are to be sliced in bite size, like below. Here is a secret from Suanne … leave the slicing until the end or else everyone in the family will munch it all before the noodles is ready. Go, jot it down.

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