so i tried to make jap chae (korean glass noodles) today. it was the first time i tried to cook anything with more than 3 ingredients unassisted. i got the recipe from "the steamy kitchen" http://steamykitchen.com/180-korean-glass-noodles-jap-chae.html via the shi's.
Korean 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
this is the running commentary i had in my head...
- ok, i can boil water. how come the burner isn't lighting? oh...turning the knob for the wrong burner. ok, i can boil water.
- do you have to cut the top and bottom off the onion first? how many layers do you have to discard? how can i slice this without cutting myself? should i be crying? how much is 3/4 a cup? i should measure it with my measuring cup. it's one large onion. it should be ok if it's not thinly sliced right?
-2 carrots huh? these are small carrots, i'll use 4. how do you make matchstick sliced carrots? there's no way i can do this with this knife. i like my fingers. there has to be a tool for this. i'm just going to cut each carrot into fourths. actually, i don't like carrots that much. screw it, i'm only going to use two.
- garlic. dangit, you have to peel each piece. there has to be a tool for this. finely minced huh. wait, how much is two cloves? is that two whole garlic or two pieces of garlic? i've already peeled a whole garlic bulb and that was a pain so let's go with one for now. garlic is getting everywhere.
- oh geez, the water is boiling. the recipe says half a pound of noodles, but the bag is 12 oz. i'm just going to put all of it in the pot. the bag says boil for 10 minutes, but the recipe says boil for 5. is that because you stir-fry the noodles again later? i don't want the noodles to be undercooked though. i'm going to trust the bag and boil for 10.
- damn, it is getting hot in here. i should've made cold noodles instead considering it's 90 degrees outside. i should probably turn on my ac, but i'm gonna see how long into the summer i can hold off. if i'm sweating this much that should count as a workout right? more like a wokout. ha.
- dangit, what counts as stalks for green onion? each individual leaf thing or a whole bulb thing? i like green onion. i'll use three bulbs. you don't eat the white part right? just the green? that was easy enough.
- drain the noodles. they seem like they're done. there are a lot more noodles than i expected. maybe i shouldn't have used the whole bag. i think cooking is more trouble than it's worth. i'm going to have to wash all the dishes after i'm done.
- good thing i bought pre-washed bagged spinach. just cut and pour. yup, definitely have too many noodles. this is going to take some arm strength to stir-fry these noodles.
- hmm, it didn't turn out as bad as it could've. definitely under-seasoned. could've used more soy sauce and sugar, and onions, and carrots, and green onions, and a meat of some sort. and some hot sauce. but overall, not bad. edible. i'm satisfied.
ok, so my cooking IQ is borderline deficient "cannot cook independently and needs constant supervision". definitely no dinner parties at my house for awhile...unless it's a potluck.
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