Japchae Salad with Korean chili vinaigrette
Turn authentic Japchae with Korean glass noodles, spinach, bean sprouts, and sweet pepper dressed in a chili vinaigrette.
Here are what you need.
Japcahe noodles, spinach, mung bean sprouts, orange pepper, onion, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, Korean chili flakes, grape seed oil, sugar, vinegar, and pepper.
Boil a pot of water first and add spinach and mung bean sprouts together, blanch them for 5 seconds.
Let’s count.
One Mississippi, two Mississippi… five Mississippi, Done!
Take them out from the pot and rinse with cold water.
Gently squeeze out the water from them with your hands. Set aside.
Now, cook the Japchae noodle (aka Dangmeon, sweet potato noodles) according to the package direction. It usually takes about 6-7 minutes.
Meanwhile make dressing with all the given ingredients. Whisk well.
Slice the onion and the pepper, chop garlic.
Quick sauteing will help them to be milder in flavor and texture, but still retain their crispness.
When the noodles are done, shower them with cold water and drain well. My noodles were pre-cut in the package. If yours are not, you might want to give them a few cuts before you move on to the next step.
Bring all the vegetables and noodles in the skillet, pour the dressing over.
USE your hand! Gently mix everything together as if you are massaging them by gently tossing and squeezing until everyone in the skillet is all mingled.
Now the salad is ready to serve.
Japchae Salad with Korean Chili Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1/3 lb Korean glass noodles (dangmyeon)
- 1/2 bunch spinach
- 8 oz mung bean sprouts
- 1/2 large onion, sliced
- 1 orange, red or yellow pepper, sliced
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 2 tsp grape seed oil
- Korean Chili Vinaigrette dressing:
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 -1 tbsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 2 pinches two pinches freshly ground black pepper, optional
- 1 tsp sesame oil, optional
Instructions
- Blanch spinach and mung bean sprouts together in the boiling water for 5 seconds, rinse them with cold water, squeeze the water out. Set aside.
- Make the vinaigrette dressing with given ingredients.
- Cook noodles according to the package direction, about 6-7 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain well. Cut the noodles if you wish. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tsp oil in the skillet over medium heat and saute onion, garlic, and pepper for 1-2 minutes until they get slightly wilted. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add all the vegetables and noodles in the skillet. Pour the dressing over and toss with your hand as you gently massage everything to combine.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
We loved this! To make my husband happy we added extra chili but it was so good and refreshing perfect for a muggy 90 degree evening. I did need to sub the korean chili flakes with dark chili powder and the fresh mung bean sprouts with canned bean sprouts because thats all our local stores had available. STill it was super delicious. I served with pan fried chicken breasts and beef my boys and husband loved it and ate alot. we will be trying this with the right stuff when we have the time to make the hour drive to the closest store that sells the chili powder, glass noodles, and so on. We’ve tried about eight of your recipes and we’ve loved them all. so far this one is my favorite.
I’m glad that you tried this recipe and liked it. Thank you for your sweet comment. It made my day!
Delicious, thank you!
I thank you, too!
May i know what kind of soy sauce to use? Light, dark, korean, chinese?
regular Korean soy sauce, but Japanese soy sauce would work, too.
I’ve been waiting to make this recipe for a long time because the ingredients were hard for me to find. Now that I’ve finally tried it all I have to say is, really? serving size 3-4? I would say serving size for myself, as I don’t think I could share with anybody 😀
You know, I could eat the whole portion myself, too. LOL! I am glad that you liked the dish. Thanks!
I've made this twice now, and love it. I use up whatever veggies I have that would be good in stir-fry, and replaced spinach with garden chard and added snow peas.
Nilam
Yes, you can use this vinaigrette to make other types of salad as well.
I am so going to make this! I believe the vinaigrette would be very versatile.
Hi Nilam
Thanks. Hope you can try soon and let me know how it turned out.
yum, the vinaigrette reminds me of your pan-fried tofu recipe (a fave of mine). Can't wait to try this!
lovely twist on such a classic favourite!
Thank you! I can't wait to try this….Happy Spring <3