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Borrowed the two Maangchi books from the library, and it’s interesting that for some dishes where recipes are also on the blog, the proportions of seasonings are different.
For eg; Soy butter pan-grilled chicken – the book version uses less garlic and no ginger relative to the blog.
I’m guessing it’s one of those intuitive sometimes-I-add-this-sometime-I-don’t for everyday recipes, or maybe the book was dampened seasoning-wise for a broader audience.
I made a double recipe of this KIMCHI JIGAE (stew/soup) tonight for our dinner from one of her online recipes https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-jjigae My daughter and I both make it quite frequently, its very satisfying and , the leftovers heat up well and if you have some pork belly in the freezer and invest in a handful of pantry ingredients, its a quick thing to cook . Costco has good, relatively cheap kimchi in 3 lb jars. A korean store will have sachet packets of the broth components (sardines, seaweed etc) so you do not have to assemble all of them or strain the broth, and the pepper flakes and pepper paste are items to keep in fridge or freezer. Its good for a gluten free or keto lifestyle, tho we usually have a little brown rice with it.
JAPCHAE — SWEET POTATO STARCH NOODLES WITH VEGETABLES [AND MEAT] — Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking, p. 323
I’ve made this streamlined version of japchae before, via Alexandra Cooks, and I love how straightforward and quick (other than soaking the noodles) it is, made all in one pot, a 5-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven in my case. Basically, you layer the vegetables, noodles, and seasoning sauce, tossing the onions, carrots, scallions, and mushrooms with oil and water in the bottom of the pot, pop the lid on and cook for 10 minutes, then toss everything together with some toasted sesame oil, et voilà.
I made a few subs based on what was on hand. I didn’t use the optional rehydrated wood ears, and used a bag of frozen sliced shiitakes from Trader Joe’s for the fresh mushrooms. Since I had let it thaw in the fridge overnight, I just left the exuded liquid and used in place of the 1/4 cup water. In place of the spinach, I used around three-quarter of a bag of TJ’s Cruciferous Crunch (shredded kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage). And since I had a packet of seasoned baked tofu to use up, I threw it in instead of doing the marinated and separately sautéed beef, pork, or chicken in the recipe. My only other alteration was to add a spoonful of gochuchang to the sauce.
This makes a satisfying one-dish meal served freshly cooked, and since it’s also good at room temp, leftovers are perfect lunch food.
I remember making (and have repeated) this dish from Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen. It was a COTM (March 2015!) over at Chowhound. Very involved recipe, choppings and marinatings all afternoon but delicious. So I did try this (yes, streamlined) Maangchi recipe the other week (though did not report) and it was great, every bit as good, we enjoyed, I printed up it for sure.
Good idea on the veg additions – I have been thinking for 2 weeks how to simplify japchae prep because I’m craving it, but the chopping tends to be a deterrent when I’m making it just for myself!
I used used a mix of the regular recipe and the easy one – in that I soaked the noodles instead of blanching them, but I did saute the vegetables individually, because I was using fresh mushrooms, and I wanted to prep them on their own.
I am a big fan of the pre-soaking technique for pasta (that was written up by the Ideas in Food people ages ago), but it’s tricky with the sweet potato noodles, because they clumped up a bit. Will test it again next time, maybe with the fully layered version.
I used multiple types of mushrooms in lieu of the usual mix of vegetables, plus red onion and scallions. Forgot the carrots I had meant to include. Forgot the sesame seeds at first but luckily I remembered those before serving
