Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen30 Minutes

Japchae Noodles

Name: Japchae Noodles
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 100g of Korean Style Vermicelli ( Sweet Potato glass Noodle); 100g raw beef (sliced into small strips); ½ red pepper; ½ carrot; ½ small onion; 60g of Chinese spinach (or local); 2 stalks of scallion, cut into 2 inch pieces; 50g fresh shiitake mushroom (re-hydrated dry also works); 3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped); Marinade for Beef:; 1 tsp of soy sauce; 2 tsp finely grated fresh Korean pear (or local); ¼ Salt; ½ tsp Sugar; ¼ tsp black pepper; ½ tsp sesame oil; Noodle Dressing:; 3 tbsp of Korean soy sauce (or light soy); ½ tbsp Sesame oil; 1/2 tbsp Roasted sesame seed; 1 tsp Chopped garlic; 1 tbsp of sugar; ½ tsp of black pepper

Eva PauFrom the series · Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen

30 min totalServes 2Easy

Japchae Noodles

Time30 min

Serves2

SkillEasy

ShowEva Pau's Asian Kitchen

Method

Finely slice the carrot, onion, red pepper, shiitake mushrooms, scallion, garlic, Chinese spinach and set aside.

Marinade the beef and set aside.

Cook the Korean Glass noodles in hot boiling water for 7- 8 minutes until soft.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the noodle dressing.

When the noodles are ready, drain them through a sieve and pour them into the large bowl with the noodle sauce.

Now, saute all the vegetables. Into a pan, add some oil, lightly sauté the onion, carrot and red pepper for 2 minutes, add the spinach and spring onion and stir fry for a further 2 minutes until they are soft but still with a bite to it. Season with a little salt before transferring it into the bowl with the noodles.

Now stir fry the beef and mushrooms in a hot oiled pan for 2-3 minutes, until the beef is cooked and the mushrooms are soft. Add this into the bowl with noodles. Mix well and ready to serve.

Cook's notes

Give the sweet-potato glass noodles a full 7-8 minutes at a rolling boil, until they've gone properly translucent and bouncy; underdone, they stay chalky in the middle.
Cook the components separately, then combine. Piling everything into one pan stews the vegetables and you lose the distinct textures that make japchae worth the effort.
Dress the drained noodles while they're still hot so they drink up the soy and sesame; toss straight away so they don't clump as they cool.
Sauté the vegetables until they're soft but still with a bite to them — that crunch against the silky noodles is the whole point of the dish.
The grated pear in the beef marinade tenderises and adds a gentle sweetness, so go easy on any extra sugar if you're adjusting to taste.

Serve with It's a full plate on its own, but sits happily alongside steamed rice and a bowl of kimchi, or as part of a spread with other Korean dishes. A cold lager or barley tea keeps things fresh.

Make ahead & storage Keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days and is genuinely good cold or at room temperature. To revive, loosen with a splash of sesame oil and a quick warm-through in a pan rather than a long reheat, which can turn the noodles gummy.

30 MinutesAsian

Recipe by Eva Pau · From the series Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026