Chop Chae

Anna got a fancy new Asian food cookbook, so the last two times I've invited myself over, she's made me yummy Asian food. This last recipe is Korean, and used glutenous rice noodles as a starch - I discovered that I'm not a huge fan of glass rice noodles. They're super chewy, and gloopy, and occasionally I found myself forgetting to chew and just swallowing, and they slid down nicely. Anyway, just not a fan of the texture, but the rest of the dish was really good, and I liked the sauce. And it does need to be said, that even though I might not ever buy glass noodles for myself, I certainly ate them with varying degrees of gusto.



I realize this isn't the most flattering picture I could have taken, but I was hungry, and just trust me that it tastes better than it looks.

Marinade
3 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs sugar
1.5 tsp corn syrup
1 tbs garlic
2 tbs green onion
1 tbs sesame oil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/3C sesame seeds (clearly, we left them out since there aren't any featured in the photo)
2 tbs vegetable oil

9oz beef rib eye or strip steak, julienned

Combine the marinade ingredients, toss with the meat, and marinate for one hour.

The rest of the dish:
1 tsp salt
1C zucchini
3/4C carrots
1C onions
1C shitake mushrooms
1C oyster mushrooms (we left out the mushrooms, because Anna doesn't like mushrooms)
1 red pepper
salt and pepper
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs pine nuts (again, we left these out)
3 eggs
7oz dried glass noodles

Soak the noodles for 30-40 minutes. Blanche the Oyster mushrooms for 2 minutes, then blanche the shitakes for 1 minute. Make a little omelet with the eggs and julienne it. Julienne all the vegetables. Salt the zucchini and carrots, and let them sit for 10 minutes (this removes some water, it says). Cook the beef. Boil the noodles for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. Cook the vegetables. Mix the soy sauce and sugar and toss with the noodles. Put everything in a big bowl and garnish with the egg. Eat.

I'll probably make something similar, at some point, without the noodles. Or with a different kind of noodles. And definitely with the mushrooms. The marinade was delicious, and you just pour that sauce right over everything.