Korean Vermicelli (Japchae)

Today is "Chuseok, 추석", which is one of the biggest Korean holidays, a major harvest moon festival that celebrates the year's harvest, a sort of Thanksgiving in Korea. Usually, you can find small, round rice cakes called "Songpyeon, 송편" everywhere during the festival. Also, many families make lots of traditional Korean foods for ancestral worship rituals, as well as for the family gatherings.

"Japchae, 잡채", a Korean vermicelli mixed with meat, mushrooms, vegetables and thinly fried eggs, and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil, is one of the popular Korean foods during many Korean holidays including Chuseok.

Traditionally, Japchae is served in family style. It is tricky to pick up the slimy Korean vermicelli with every single component (meats, mushrooms, veges...) at once with your chopsticks without messing up the table top, especially if you are not familiar with chopsticks. While I was thinking about a new way to serve the dish other than traditional family style, I found a news article about Chef Bae Han-chul of Seoul Intercontinental Hotel, who prepared the vermicelli dish wrapped with rice paper to make it easier to enjoy for everyone along with a great presentation.

What a good idea!

Korean Vermicelli wrapped in rice paper
Japchae inspired by Chef Bae Han-chul's recipe

(Yield: about 20 wraps / Cooking time: 1.5 hours)

Ingredients:
+ 200g dried Korean vermicelli (called "Dangmyeon, 당면")
+ 150g beef (thinly sliced 3" strips)
+ carrots (1/4 of a large one)
+ 1/2 onion
+ 4-5 medium size dried shiitake mushrooms
+ a handful spinach
+ 1-2 eggs
+ low-sodium soy sauce
+ sesame oil
+ 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced finely
+ salt & pepper

+ 20 sprigs of chives
+ 20 rice papers, 16cm(~6") size




Procedures:

1. Prepare the ingredients as follows:
- Carrots: Julienne (1-2mm square x 4-5cm long) the carrot. Season with salt and pepper and sauté with vegetable oil.


- Onion: Julienne (1-2mm square x 4-5cm long) the onion. Season with salt and pepper and sauté with vegetable oil.


- Shiitake mushroom: Hydrate in lukewarm water (at least 2-3 hours), and squeeze out the water and slice thinly. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 tsp minced garlic and 1/4 tsp soy sauce. Sauté with vegetable oil.


- Spinach: Clean the spinach (remove any dirt or bruised leaves). Blanch in boiling salted water, and shock in ice water. Squeeze the water and season with salt & pepper.


- Egg: Separate egg white and yolk. Whisk gently the white and yolk with a fork to make them smooth, but make sure not to incorporate air. Season with salt. Heat a non-stick pan and spread oil with paper towel (we don't want any access oil). Cook egg white first, and then yolk as thin as you can. Ideally, the egg white and yolk should not have any brown color on them.
Julienne (1-2mm square x 4-5cm long) them when they are cooled.


- Beef: Season with 2 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp minced garlic and pepper. Sauté with vegetable oil.


* NOTE: Taste all individual components, and season with salt if needed. You should be able to eat each component as it is. This is a major characteristic of Korean foods. In most cases, each compoment is cooked and seasoned individually and mixed or cooked together at the end again to complete the dish.


2. Boil a large pot of water and cook Korean vermicelli. The cooking times may vary, but usually 8-10 minutes.


3. When the vermicelli is cooked properly, it should have texture (not mushy) but is not chewy. Rinse the cooked vermicelli with running cold water. Leave the vermicelli over a strainer to let the water drain.


4. Cut the rinsed vermicelli about two times to make sure the vermicelli is not too long. Place it in a large pan and season with 1.5 Tbsp of soy sauce and pepper.


5. Add the prepared carrot, onion, spinach, shiitake mushroom,egg and beef to the vermicelli and mix all together over low heat just enough to mix and warm up all the components. Taste it and season with salt & pepper and sesame oil if needed.



! STOP: If you want traditional family style serving, you can serve #5 in a dish. The next steps are what makes this Korean Vermicelli (Japchae) recipe unique.


6. Blanch chives in boiling salted water just for a second. Blanch the chives in ice water immediately.




7. Dip a sheet of rice paper in hot water a few seconds until the rice paper is very smooth to handle. Place it on your cutting board or any clean working surface.


8. Place mixed Korean vermicelli from #5 at the center of rice paper.


9. Wrap the Korean vermicelli by gathering the edges of rice paper to the center.


10. Tie the gathered rice paper with a sprig of blanched chive.



Enjoy~