Springy Korean Glass Noodles (ChapChae/Japchae)

Sweet potato noodles are tricky noodle to work with, if you are seeking that perfect chewy bouncy texture but there’s a fool proof way to achieve this & you’ll be surprised how simple it is! No more boiling water, no more running noodles under cold water to make the perfect Chewy Korean Glass Noodles (ChapChae/Japchae)

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Noodles are one of my most favourite things in the world to eat. It’s chewy, satisfying, comforting and great for sharing. When I had Korean glass noodles (JapChae/ChapChae) for the first time, I was blown away. The noodles were VERY chewy which made it very satisfying to eat, and the sauce didn’t sit on the surface of the noodles it was absorbed into the noodle! Fascinating eh?

 

 

When I got home I knew I HAD to recreate this. At the time, it was not easy to find recipes online like it is today and with MANY failed attempts, I finally figured out a way to make it the texture I had been seeking! So here I share my findings to you, in hopes that you can easily make these yummy Korean Glass Noodles (JapChae/ChapChae) at home anytime! 🙂

 

 

SWEET POTATO NOODLES

20 years ago, it was a lot harder to find a Korean supermarket than it is today. I would look high and low for these noodles in Chinese supermarkets with no avail. At the time, I didn’t even know how the noodles would look raw, let alone the name of the noodles so I based it all on how I ‘thought’ it would look raw.

 

Nowadays, these noodles can be found easily in any Asian supermarket. They are called ‘Sweet Potato Noodles’ on the packaging. They are grayish in colour and about 2 mm thick in diameter.

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS 

I kept this recipe simple with the essentials:

• Carrots
• Onions
• Peppers
• Spinach
• Green Onions

 

 

However, you can add as many types of ingredients as you want for variety! A few things to consider:

• Plain omelette cut into thin ribbons
• Shiitake cooked in a sweet soy cut into thin slices
• Meat
• Zucchini cut into thin ribbons
• Garlic
• Experiment with any vegetable 🙂

 

Tip #1 : Try not to  overdo it with too many vegetables, the chewy noodles are the star of the show! 🙂

 

 

 

 

PREPARATION

On almost every noodle packaging instruction that I found, they always teach you to boil the noodles first. Don’t do it! 🙂 Seriously.

During my experimentation, I found that boiling the noodles produces a mushy texture. Sometimes the middle of the noodles were still raw, since the outsides would cook faster than the insides. This resulted in:

1. A very mushy noodle stir fry with vegetables
2. A mushy noodle with a raw centre, so it was semi crunchy. I love crunchy, but crunchy sweet potato noodles are not pleasant. They are gummy and stick to your teeth or are very tough to chew through.

 

What I found worked amazingly was just soaking the noodles for 20 mins in hot water. I just used hot tap water for simplicity! Make sure to run the tap until the water is very hot. If you can’t use tap water, you can boil some water in a kettle. Just make sure to let the water sit for 5-10 mins to cool a smidge before soaking the noodles in it since it might be too hot for soaking.

 

 

Soaking the noodles created soft and pliable noodles (still raw though and needs to be cooked though). I found boiling the noodles in a pot, agitated the starches too much and it kept the water at a constant boiling point which would usually over cook the noodles on the outside but still had raw centers – the result would be mushy noodles. Soaking it gives it a nice an easy bath without agitation at a slightly cooler temperature.

 

Tip #2: Cut the noodles after you are done soaking them. They are quite hard to work with in a pan (and to eat) when they are left at it’s long length.

 

Tip #3: Mix a bit of sesame oil into the noodles after they are done soaking to prevent them from sticking to each other.

 

While the noodles are soaking you can chop the vegetables. Almost all the ingredients just need to be chopped into matchsticks to match the shape of the noodles 🙂 except the spinach.

 

For the spinach, boil it for approximately 2 mins. After 2 mins, rinse it under cold water to stop the cooking process and squeeze all the water out of the spinach. You want a very dry textured spinach.

 

 

 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

You’re probably going to look at everything and say to yourself “Uhh that’s a whole lotta ingredients to fit into this little frying pan!” …and you’re right! It will look like there’s a lot of ingredients to be stuffing into a tiny frying pan, but once you start cooking it, the noodles will shrink down and the vegetables will wilt.

 

I have tiny frying pans at home, so there was no way I was going to fit all that food into my itty bitty frying pan so I had to do this in 2 steps. If you have larger frying pans – use them.

 

Tip #4: When you are mixing the soy sauce mixture together, use hot water. This will melt the sugars so that it doesn’t sit at the bottom of the sauce.

 

 

Tip #5: Always toast your sesame seeds! 🙂 I never found an occasion where raw sesame seeds tasted better than toasted. Toasting the seeds also gets rid of any stale flavours as well! 🙂

 

First, I cooked all the vegetables together for about 5 mins and then I transferred it to another bowl. Next, I cooked the noodles, with half the soy sauce mixture and when the noodles were almost cooked and had shrunk in size by half, I added the vegetables back into the frying pan and added the other half of the soy sauce mixture.

…and voila! 🙂 You’re done! Time to enjoy your chewy Korean Glass Noodles (JapChae/ChapChae)!

 

Tip #6: Put the green onions last. You don’t want to cook them too much – there’s more flavour to them when they are raw-ish.

 

 

Tip #7: Once it is done cooking, It’s easier to mix all the ingredients together by hand. Just don’t forget to let it cool down a bit first before doing this. 😛

 

These are always a hit at potlucks and parties, I have never met a person who didn’t love these Korean Glass Noodles (JapChae/ChapChae) 🙂 Just be careful if you put these noodles in the fridge, the starch in the noodles will harden up from the cold so you can’t serve them straight from the fridge and will require some re-heating. Re-heat it in the microwave a few minutes at a time (mixing in between) to prevent it from melting into a small goopy solid mound of noodles 🙂

 

 

Follow me on Instagram and show us if you made Korean Glass Noodles (JapChae/ChapChae) with #pupswithchopsticks if you made this! Share your yummy foods with me! 🙂

 

No more soggy noodles deserves a happy dance! 🙂

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