Philippines

Country of Origin

GOOD FOR 2-3 PERSON PER SERVINGS

No Korean feast is complete without a colorful plate of japchae (or chapch’ae), a stir-fry of glass noodles and vegetables. Tracing the long history of this beloved dish provides a fascinating study of Korean culinary and cultural history.

Meaning “mixture of vegetables,” japchae describes both the dish as well as the method with which it is prepared. Generally, the term refers to vegetables (namul) stir-fried with meat. To make the dish, glass noodles made from sweet potato starch (dangmyeon) are stir-fried in sesame oil with beef and thinly sliced vegetables and seasoned with soy sauce and a touch of sugar.

Curiously, the original version of japchae contained neither meat nor noodles. Dating back to the seventeenth-century Joseon (or Choson) dynasty, japchae was invented by one of King Gwangaegun’s subjects, who concocted the dish for a royal celebration.