Soup for a cold day

I felt like having soup and had limited things on hand to make it with. I ended up with a comforting soup of onions and garlic, potatoes, rice cake balls, and some egg to add a bit of protein.
I wished I had had some green onions, as it turned out pretty white/yellow, and it would have balanced out the color and flavor, but I've just got to go with what I've got.

1. Remove the rice cake balls from package and set to soak in enough water to cover them.
2. Saute' 1/2-1 diced onion and 3 chopped garlic cloves in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Add in two potatoes, peeled and 1/2" diced, and simmer under a lid until the potatoes are almost done.
4. Add 8 cups of water and appropriate amount of stock powder (6-8 Tbsp in my case for a vegetarian stock powder Ebon bought). Bring to a boil.
5. Drain the rice cake balls and add to the boiling soup. Reduce heat to med/med high. Cook until the rice cakes are tender.
6. Add some pepper to taste.
7. Beat two eggs and slowly pour into the soup.
8. If you have them, I would add 1-2 chopped green onions at this point.

I thought it turned out quite yummy! I loved the rice cake balls. I'll have to try to find them again. I'm pretty sure I got them at the Reliable Market. I only got them because they were a smaller package than the flat rice cakes I normally get.

Minestrone

I made this minestrone many weeks ago. I liked how it turned out. As always there wasn't enough broth for Ebon...

Coconut Red Lentil Curry (reboot)

I made a Coconut Red Lentil Curry before but this time I flew by the seat of my pants and used what was on hand:

~2 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots
1 carrot-shaped sweet potato (very small)
1/2 onion
2 small potatoes
5 garlic cloves
1 jalepeno (optional)
maharaja curry powder ~1tbsp
1 cup red lentils
2 cups water
1 can (15 oz?) coconut milk

I chopped everything pretty small, about 1/4" dice or slice. I sauteed all the veggies (minus the hot pepper) then added the curry powder, lentils and water. I added the coconut milk after the lentils were just about cooked. I added the jalepeno last after I dished out Leela's portion, of which she ate a little bit - mostly the carrots.
If I did it again, I'd add the curry powder after sauteing and before adding the water/lentils.
The leftovers were even better than fresh I'm guessing because the flavors had more time to meld.

Roasted Red Cabbage and Apples with Italian "Sausage"

I made Roasted Red Cabbage and Apples with Italian "Sausage" last night. It was pretty easy and I thought it turned out great. Ebon was skeptical, but ate the sausage and some of the cabbage mixture. Leela didn't eat any of the cabbage, but ate all of the sausage that I gave her, once she discovered she liked it dipped in brown mustard. Mustard FTW!

Chocolate cake, yum!

I was working on perfecting chocolate cake for Ebon.  So since there was a lot of frosting after the last try, I kept looking and I found a couple other recipes to try. Sally's Baking Addiction to the rescue with her chocolate cake. I think Ebon likes it better than the first attempt. I thought it was also very good. I made it in the same pan as before. It took a total of 47 minutes to make.

Japchae

I was craving the sweet potato noodles, so I decided to make japchae from this recipe. I didn't use all the soy sauce it called for.

Skip to main content

OPEN NAVIGATION MENU

Epicurious

SAVE RECIPE

SEARCH

Recipes & Menus

Expert Advice

Ingredients

Holidays & Events

Video

My Saved Recipes

Want unlimited access?

 

SUBSCRIBE

COOKBOOKS

Sweet Potato Noodles (Japchae)

BY CECILIA HAE-JIN LEE

May 6, 2009

SAVE RECIPE

4.7

(7)

READ REVIEWS

Image may contain Food Noodle Pasta Plant Animal Lobster Seafood Sea Life Produce Bowl Dish and Meal

Sweet Potato Noodles (Japchae)Julie Toy

Japchae is traditionally made for parties or celebrations, but I like to make it for a light lunch or part of a big dinner. Dried sweet potato noodles can be found in most Asian supermarkets. They are incredibly chewy but healthy and delicious. This recipe works as a side dish (banchan) or can even be served as an appetizer or light snack.

Ingredients

Makes 4 or 5 servings

8 ounces sweet potato noodles

1/2 bunch spinach (about 4 ounces), rinsed and trimmed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

6 ounces beef rib-eye, cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick strips

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 medium onion, sliced

3 to 4 pyongo or shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 carrot, shredded or cut into thin strips

3 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 cup sugar

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Step 1

Cook the sweet potato noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Be sure not to overcook the noodles, or they will lose their chewy texture. If you like, cut the noodles with scissors into 6- to 7-inch lengths for easier eating.

Step 2

Blanch the spinach in boiling water. Rinse immediately under cold water, squeeze the water from the leaves and form into a ball, and then cut the ball in half. Combine the spinach, half the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of the sesame oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Set aside to let the flavors soak in.

Step 3

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef, the remaining garlic, 1 teaspoon of the soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil. Stir-fry until the beef is cooked, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion, mushrooms, and carrot and cook until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the green onions and stir-fry for another minute. Remove from the heat.

Step 4

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the noodles, beef mixture, spinach, remaining 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and the sugar. Serve warm, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

From Quick & Easy Korean Cooking by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee. Text copyright © 2009 by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee. Photographs copyright © 2009 by Julie Toy. Published by Chronicle Books.

TRENDING

Rice Cake Soup

I kind of think this is the Asian version of chicken soup with dumplings. Since we're vegetarian, there's no chicken :)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
one stalk celery thinly sliced
1/2 cup of cubed daikon radish
4-6 cups of water
~2 tablespoons gochugaru (optional for a spicy soup)
1/2 (1kg?) package of rice cakes
1-2 cups of beansprouts
2-3 green onions chopped
one or two sheets of dried Seaweed/laver/Gim torn into small pieces
1 egg beaten

1. Pour the rice cakes into a bowl and cover it with water to soak for 15-30 min
2. In a medium or large pot (depending on how much you want to make), fry the onions and garlic in the oil until soft over a medium low heat.
3. Add the celery and daikon and saute until the start to soften.
4. Add the water and the optional gochugaru- if want it spicy.
5. Drain and rinse the rice cakes then add them to the soup pot. Increase the temperature to medium or medium high, bring to a boil then reduce the temp to simmer the soup until the rice cakes have softened, about 10 minutes?.
6. One at a time add the beansprouts, seaweed and drizzle the egg into the soup at the end.

Ebon thinks adding carrots makes it too sweet.