Korean Chop Che (Glass Noodle Stir Fry)

Welcome to the first week of cooking classes for fall 2009.

HUGE THANKS to Corrina and Sean for the classroom beautification project. The paintings are amazing. Our room is so colorful and inspiring now!

It was great to see all of you yesterday. I'm glad so many new ORLA students are enrolled in this class. Please let me know if there is any way I can help you get familiar with the school, so you can feel at home right away.

This blog is a new way of getting the notes and recipes from class out to families each week. I think it will save paper and keep you from having to go through the Wings website each time you want to get a recipe. I welcome your feedback and ideas for keeping the lines of communication open.

Yesterday we brainstormed about which countries you are interested in studying this session, and here are some of the suggestions:

Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Thailand, Japan, Mexico, Ethiopia, India, China

We will spend two weeks on each country, and this week we started with Korea. Here is the website we looked at regarding Korean table manners:

www.geocities.com/ypmljulia/table_manners.htm

That same page has other recipes for you to try. Ingredients can be found at Asian grocery stores around Olympia and Lacey, such as:

Capitol Market 2419 Harrison Ave. in West Olympia

Arirang Oriental Market 7940 Martin Way E.

Also try Top Foods and Olympia Food Co-op for international food selections

Here is the recipe for the dish we made in class this week, Glass Noodle Stir Fry:

Korean Chop Che (also spelled Jap Jae, Jap Che, or Jop Jae)

ingredients-

1/2 lb glass noodles (sweet potato vermicelli)

1/2 lb sirloin beef, thinly sliced

24 dried shiitake mushrooms

1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and grated

5 scallions, chopped

3 Tb sesame seeds

cooking oil (canola, safflower, corn, vegetable)

marinade for beef:

1/2 cup soy sauce (plus 1/4 cup for adding later)

3 Tb sesame oil (plus 1Tb for adding later)

4 Tb sugar

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

-bring water to boil in 4qt. (or larger) pot.

-meanwhile, prepare marinade and add sliced beef. combine and let sit while preparing other ingredients.

-boil noodles for 5 minutes, then strain (save some of the hot cooking water to pour over shiitakes in a bowl. the hot water will rehydrate the mushrooms if you cover them and let sit for 10-15 minutes. next, submerge cooked noodles in bowl of cold water. while soaking, cut noodles with clean scissors to make them easier to eat later (we forgot to do this in class yesterday, thus the noodles were a challenge to eat in one bite!). next, strain noodles and place in large bowl to wait for other ingredients.

-saute onions and carrots in 1/4 cup cooking oil over low heat, stirring occasionally but not constantly for about 10 minutes (until soft and slightly brown).

-meanwhile, strain mushrooms when rehydrated and save the liquid for later. slice mushrooms into thin strips and add to cooked onions/carrots.

-in separate pan, heat 1/4 cup cooking oil and add marinated meat. cook over medium heat, stirring, for about 4 minutes until just brown. do not overcook, or meat will be tough.

-add cooked veggies and meat to the noodles in the bowl, then add scallions and sesame seeds. toss and combine ingredients while adding 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1Tb sesame oil. if you would like more liquid to make it "saucier", add some of the reserved mushroom-soaking liquid.

ENJOY!