Photo of Korean Glass Noodles – Jap Chae/Chap Chae
These past few days, I needed to cook healthy. Not for me, but for the sake of my children. You see, last week, I had Lasik eye surgery. As any reasonable mother would do, I milked it as far as I could go in terms of slacking on my housewifery duties. Laundry? bah..eyes too dry. Ironing? doc said no heavy lifting. Dishes? need to lay down to put in drops every 2 hours. Vacuuming? nope…can’t see squat after squirting in drops. Best to just sleep in every morning and let Scott handle the kids. It took 3 days before the kids confessed me what they’ve been eating for breakfast….
Breakfast of Champions Temper Tantrums
- 1 Double Fudge Pop-Tart
- A slice of white bread
- Water
Now. Let’s review, shall we? No. let’s not. You already know where I’m going with this. But then again, what was I thinking? I love my dear husband so very very much, but I certainly didn’t choose him for his eating habits. I mean, this the guy that tops his Fritos with canned chili, spray-on cheese and calls it dinner, considers microwave butter popcorn a vegetable and hides a stash of chocolate breakfast bars at office and another in the front seat of his car so that he doesn’t have to share with the kids. Naturally, I took over the role as 
Frau Nutrition in our household and nudged my kids to embrace all sorts of vegetables – even brussels sprouts and salad. Now, don’t get me wrong, we eat our share of junk as evidenced by: 
Negative Calorie Chocolate Cake 
Chocolate & Dark Rum Tiramisu but I always make sure that we balance it out with healthy stuff too. All became undone those fateful mornings that I relinquished my morning duties. Despite the kitchen being stocked with soy milk, milk, juice, oatmeal, yogurt, whole-wheat bagels, eggs and fruit, those items were left untouched. Do you even know how many bushels of vegetables my kids have to eat to make up for 3 mornings of Pop Tarts, white bread and water?!? Where did those Pop Tarts come from in the first place?!? Does my husband have a contraband stash? (sigh) Just dig me a grave, boys.
We took a little vacation this weekend to Marco Island – thanks to my sister-in-law who works for Marriott (now, that’s what I call RWB – relative with benefits) who got us a room overlooking the beach. It was a perfect mini-getaway. Thank you, R&M!
***
On to the recipe for healthy Korean noodles with tons of vegetables, Jap Chae (or Chap Chae). The noodles are made from sweet potato starch, but taste NOTHING like sweet potatoes. They are light in texture and color, making it a great flavor carrier for any type of vegetables and seasonings.
Korean Glass Noodles – Jap Chae
This dish can also be spelled: Jab Chae, Chap Chae. The type of noodles used in this dish is made from sweet potato starch and translucent when cooked, which is how they got their English name, “glass noodles.” They are also gluten free and are wonderfully springy and light. I love making this dish in the summertime, because you can serve these noodles at room temperature or even slightly chilled.
You can find them at Asian markets or online at Komart. 
Just boil the dried noodles for 5 minutes, drain and toss with sesame oil so that they don’t stick together:
You can use any type of fresh mushrooms, like shitake or even the standard button mushroom, but traditionally, dried wood ear mushrooms, found in most Asian markets, are used. Just rehydrate the dried wood ear mushrooms in warm water for 15 minutes, drain and they’ll be ready for your stir-fry. The spinach was shy – didn’t want to jump in the group shot.
Stir fry the carrots and onions until softened, oh…about 1 minute…but it really depends on how thin you slice your onions and carrots:
Add garlic, scallions and mushrooms. Fry 30 seconds:
Then add spinach, noodles, soy sauce, sugar, fry 2-3 minutes until noodles are heated through. Turn off heat, toss with sesame seeds and remaining 1 1/2 tsp of sesame oil:
PrintKorean Glass Noodles – Jap Chae/Chap Chae Recipe
Serves 4-6 as part of multicourse meal
1/2 pound dried Korean sweet potato noodles
2 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3/4 cup thinly sliced onions
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 stalks green onions, cut into 1″ lengths
1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced (shitake, wood ear)
1/2 lb spinach, washed well and drained
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Fill a large pot with water and boil. When water is boiling, add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and toss with only 1 tsp of the sesame oil. Use kitchen shears to cut noodles into shorter pieces, about 8 inches in length. Set aside.
In bowl, mix soy sauce & sugar together. Add the cooking oil in a wok or large saute pan on high heat and swirl to coat. When the cooking oil is hot but not smoking, fry onions and carrots, until just softened, about 1 minute. Add the garlic, green onions and mushrooms, fry 30 seconds. Then add the spinach, soy sauce, sugar and the noodles. Fry 2-3 minutes until the noodles are cooked through. Turn off heat, toss with sesame seeds and the remaining 1 1/2 tsp of sesame oil.
*rehydrate your mushrooms if you are using dried
***
If you’re not into the whole healthy vegetable thing, then you’ll love:
Garlic Scallion Noodles***
More Korean Dishes
Korean BBQ Beef on Crispy Wonton Chip
Korean BBQ Kalbi (Short Ribs) and Bulgogi Recipe
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Glass noodles.. yummyy.. havent seen them around here
Haha you’re such a great mom. Thanks for this recipe! I’ve been needing new healthy recipes to try. I was getting tired of my thai green curry w/ reduced fat coconut milk. I know
“reduced fat coconut milk,” right? It’s like an oxymoron!
hope you’ll be able to get the “boys” back on the nutrition track soon (I know you will)…ooh, that reminds me, I have a recipe for this too, should give it a try soon.
Hmm…. may be I should go get me a Lasik too
.
Glass noodles are my all time favorite. I have to try this recipe. Will let you know how it turned out soon
.
Oh that is gorgeous, and is negative calorie cake really junk?
Glass noodle is so yummy. My mom cooks this chinese dish called “ants climbing up the tree” with glass noodle. (http://www.eatingchina.com/recipes/ants-climbing.htm) I will try your recipe this week. Yum~~~~
Korean sweet potato glass noodles! hehe – that’s a mouthful! I’ll definitely have to look out for them! Mmmm…and all those veggies. Your boys will have to eat a ton of sweet stuff to compensate for that super healthy meal
Glass Noodles!!!
So vibrant and Incredible dish!!!
Wish I could taste some
This sounds so good! I can smell the tempting flavours on the new smell-o-cam you installed.
When my daughter was small she used to love it when I had to go to work. She loved the special recipe my husband would make for her. It is called ‘tinned beans and two spoons’. The secret recipe is to open a tin of baked beans (do not warm up) and eat them from the tin with two spoons. She really thought this was some big treat! Doesn’t that just kill you off?
I’m going to go look now at ‘ants climbing up the tree’. Asian dishes have such cool names.
Yum, looks like a dish I make at home Yum Woon Sen. I use glass noodles, ground pork, chili paste in soy bean sauce, lime and lots of thai chili peppers!
Oooh! This is definitely a popular item on the menu of Korean restaurants here…your homemade one looks phenomenal!
I have always loved those noodles, and I tend to just eat them with a little sesame oil and some chopped up scallions. However, I suppose I could be convinced to add a few more things.
Oh yum, I would gladly have this for breakfast, this looks delicious. But where’s the beef?! You gotta have some protein to complete the nutritional balance – right?
What is it with husbands and food? LOL! Big slabs of meat is what my husband eats and very selective selection of veggies & fruit.
My mother-in-law’s favorite dish. Better write this down…
hehehe… I have a pack of that in my cupboard and was just thinking about the same thing as you do… make a Korean glass noodle dish and post about it
Now Jap Chae with Negative Chocolate Cake for dessert sounds like the perfect meal! Glad your eye surgery went well, and that you’re once again back in charge of family nutrition!
I need some healthy noodles here too. Send them over Jaden.
Glass noodles. I absolutely adore them, yet I’ve never made them why? Rather embarrassingly, I must ask, how do you get your carrots in such perfect shred?
I loooove jap chae. I never realized how simple it is to make. Marked for the future!
Radish- I use this:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=218140
This is my favorite $6 tool. Take a carrot, stick a fork on the fat end to anchor it down. Use tool to shred the carrot to create perfect julienned strips.
Wait … you make your kids drink soy milk?? My ex does the same with my kids. Then, when they get here for visits, they’ll go through a two gallons of 2% by the first nightfall. That’s my fault, and they like it that way!
Here’s a question (meaning you have to go back to replying to me in these comments for once
) … When cooking Asian dishes, when would someone like myself know when to use a “standard” soy sauce vs. a black soy sauce or some of the others? I have two bottles of the Healthy Boy black soy sauce and even use it on omelets on occasion.
That is just too funny. I guess everyone took a little bit of advantage of the situation!
What a funny story…I cringe when my mom buys things like pop tarts for my daughter…I know growing up we weren’t allowed to touch sugar except on Sundays! These noodles look awesome, so colorful and beautiful just to look at. A really amazing recipe!
love jap chae, its one of my most favorite dishes my mom, who’s korean, would make for special occasions. you’re version is total vegetarian but you can add thinly sliced beef that you marinate in a bit of soy sauce, salt, and pepper. mashiso! that korean for tastes good!
Any suggestions for places to find the noodles themselves?
Feeding kids–been there, done that, too! Results–2 healthy adults
oo.. healthy and yummy. Yummy is always good but healthy is a bonus. ;p This dish is so colourful as well. A pretty dish.
Lovely! This is a winner!
That looks good, nice and colourful. It sounds both healthy and tasty.
Your style of writing is so charming! I love it! And the recipes are fantastic. This one sounds delicious, too. I might even get my husband to eat veggies if I can follow along! Your pictures are also so delicious looking.
Looks delicious. I’ve had wide glass noodles in a pad thai mixture at a few eateries and I found that they didn’t hold the flavor of a sauce very well. However, this is easily remedied with dipping sauce served on the side
What would I not give for that bowl right now!! I make soemthing similar with rice noodles….. korean noodles, have to try them out. They look too cute to leave them aside!
YUM! The noodles look delicious, Jaden! And what a steamy story… I have to say, I can relate to your husband. When I watch my nieces and nephews… I think: this one meal is not going to determine their nutritional well-being or stunt their growth. Even though it is complete crap and they haven’t had anything green but mint chip ice cream all weekend. Feeding them what they want means they are not going to complain (though it sounds like your kids like veggies – amazing! and flavor – even more amazing!) so, what harm is there? My job is to be the fun Aunt that let’s them stay up late. Lovin’ your cuisine and lovin’ you!
As much as I love good food, I have an equal love for junk.
White bread, toasted with lots of butter, sugar and cinnamon, smores pop tarts, cheetos…. yep, I’m gonna die early…. just as much from that as from eating too much Jap Chae then drinking copious amounts of barley tea until my stomach explodes.
I simply love this dish. The Korean restaurants here charge about RM20 (USD6) for one portion. Sidenote, did they ever bury you in that sandhole (but of course, I’m sure they dug you out and brought you home after that seeing that you’ll still cooking away!).
These noodles look too good to healthy Jaden. Glad you had some vacation time. Well deserved I imagine with your busy schedule!
I had this dish once in a Korean home and enjoyed it very much.I was seeing this type of noodles for the first time then. Your recipe reminded me of that experience.Thanks Jaden.
I have plans to make this soon
Coincidence: Just ate some today made by a Singaporean friend — nice! She put in some fermented soya curd which enhanced the taste.
Personally, I consider Pop-Tarts to be a separate food group.
Seriously, though, excellent recipe–and pretty! I always loved the way glass noodles looked.
I would like to try those noodles as I have not!
Sounds like a wonderful getaway for your family
Glass noodles are among my absolute favourite things to eat and my pantry is always stocked with it.
Looks like there are a lot of us out here who LOVE glass noodles! Yum.
Here’s the funny thing… you’re like the best mom EVER, but your boys will always remember “sneaking” Pop Tarts with Dad. Isn’t that just the way it goes?!
My bf’s little sis loves these noodles!
Good tip about cutting them. Never thought of that, no wonder noodles are always hitting me in the face while I slurped. Lol.
Okay.. I’m at work and I keep getting interrupted (DAMMIT) so after 10 tries I still – hold plz.. phone. (DAMMIT) Anyhoo, I still haven’t read your whole post. I see I’m not going to be able to do it until I get home tonight – but I still wanted to quickly – hold.. (M*TH^RF#!*$) TOQUICKLYTELLYOU that your dishes always blow me away with their gorgeous colors!!!!! Simply stunning – whatever it is!!
xoxo
I love me some chop chae, but I don’t get out to eat it as often as I’d like.
AND NOW I DON’T HAVE TO!!!!!!!!
*wicked laugh*
ps- I was reading quickly, and for some reason mis-read the last recipe as “Girly Scallion Noodles.”
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this dish just looks gorgeous. all those colours. i think it will be a winner at home, especially with my little girl. great recipe, as usual. thanks for sharing.
That’s some serious Jap Chae. The thin julienne on the carrots contrasting with the noodles really make for a visual feast for the eyes.
For the record, I do like to be whipped with a wet noodle.
I love japchae, it’s my MUST order dish it everytime we go out for korean
Reading this reminds me that I have a packet of glass noodles sitting in the pantry that I should use up before it expires. Thanks for the hint!
ps. I bet your kids loved the pop tarts, I know I used to!