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Kreamy Vegan

Vegan Japchae-Bap Recipe

A Festive Sweet and Savory Dish from Korea
Print Recipe
Servings: 4
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium Red bell pepper thinly sliced
  • 1 medium Yellow bell pepper thinly sliced
  • 1 cup Carrots (or 2 medium size carrots) thinly sliced
  • 1 large Onion thinly sliced
  • 300 g Spinach
  • 3 Dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in water
  • 3 Dried wood ear mushrooms soaked in water
  • 50 g Dried soy bits (Optional) soaked in water
  • 100 g Dangmyeon (Optional) soaked in lukewarm water
  • 1 tbsp Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Japchae sauce
  • 20 g garlic (about 4 cloves)
  • 4 tbsp Date syrup
  • 3 tbsp Soy sauce
  • 1 tsp Sesame oil

Method
 

  1. In each bowl, have shiitake mushroom, ear mushroom, soy bits, and dangmyeon in the water and leave it for 30 minutes. Use lukewarm water for dangmyeon to be hydaratedfaster.
  2. In a large pan, heat sesame oil and stir-fry thinly sliced carrots. Season lightly with salt. Set aside once the carrots are tender and cooked.
  3. Stir-fry onions. Season lightly with salt. Set aside with the carrots. Repeat the same instruction with the bell peppers.
  4. Drain the water from the mushrooms, stir-fry, and season with salt until done.
  5. Squeeze the water out of the soy bits, and thinly slice. Marinate the soy bits with a tablespoon of soy sauce and date syrup. Then Stir-fry and set aside.
  6. Add all the cooked ingredients into the large pan, and the spinach. You can include the optional dangmyeon now. Cook everything together with the remaining sauce ingredients until the spinach is cooked and withered.
  7. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt.
  8. Garnish it with toasted sesame seeds and serve it with a bowl of rice.

Notes

Tips
  • Making japchae may seem daunting at first with so many ingredients, but it really is all about stir-frying each ingredient and combining it all together with the sauce. If stir-frying each ingredient separately seems like a lot of work, you can also throw all the ingredients together into the pan. Cooking every single individual ingredient separately gives you more control over how much you’d like to have your ingredients cooked and seasoned, but your time and effort are also precious!
  • Date syrup is not a traditional ingredient in Korean cuisine, but I love the round beautiful sweetness of date syrup. Also, it gives a darker color to the japchae and makes it look more appetizing. But you can choose oligosaccharide or plum syrup to have it the traditional way. Or choose the sweetener of your choice.