Time for Japchae!

My wife and I love Korean food. My wife is also a pretty saavy cook, and makes some great meals, plus she has a nice library of cookbooks. Often she cooks one Korean meal called japchae (잡채), or chapuche (チャプチェ) in Japanese, which her cookbook describes as a great, easy meal to prepare using left-overs in the fridge. For most Westerners, it’s not the first Korean food you might think of (like kimchi), but it’s actually pretty universal. Your neighborhood Korean restaurant is likely to have it, and it’s probably pretty good.

Japchae is made of glass noodles, stir-fried vegetables, meat (or tofu for vegetarians), mushrooms, stir-fried in sesame oil + soy sauce. The ingredients are pretty common-place, the preparation is simple, but it’s a great meal.

It’s also meal you often see served during special holidays like Chuseok (fall harvest festival).

To be honest, it’s usually not my favorite. It’s good, but when I eat out with my wife and daughter I prefer to go straight for the hot/sour/spicy stuff like kimchi, bibimbap and so on. However, I have to admit “Mommy” (my wife) cooks a good Japchae. Nicely done, honey!

P.S. I took this photo during dinner one night after I got home from work recently.