Cooking from the deep

Cooking from the deep dark recesses of my cupboards, that is. Every so often I go through my cupboards & freezers and make a list (you know I love my lists!) of the mishmash of foods languishing there. Then I try to figure out things to make with them.

These are one of the items on that list:

These are Korean glass noodles. We brought 2 packages of these back from Texas with us when we were there for Christmas last year. Last year! Good thing they’re shelf stable. My sister-in-law made these really yummy wontons with them, and I had every intention of doing the same when we got home.

You can see how that worked out.

So I turned to my favorite recipe finder…Google. And it came up with a recipe from the Steamy Kitchen website for something called Jap Chae.

I have no idea how to pronounce that.

These noodles are also called starch noodles because they’re made from sweet potato starch. So they’re great if you’re looking for gluten free ingredients! They’re called glass noodles because once you cook them they look like this:

Just bring a pot of water to a boil, then add the noodles and boil for 5 minutes. (This was a 12-oz. package.) Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Get out your scissors and cut the noodles into pieces 6 to 8 inches long. I assigned this job to Madeline, and she reports that it’s quite fun! Then toss with 1-1/2 tsp. sesame oil (the noodles, not the daughter) and set them aside.

You’ll need the following veggies prepped before you begin stir frying:

3 carrots, peeled & cut into matchsticks
1 cup thin sliced yellow onion
5 green onions trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 package shiitake mushrooms, chopped (I think this was a 5 or 6 oz. package
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2# – 3/4# spinach, washed and drained

Also mix together 1 T. sugar and 3 T. soy sauce.

Heat 1-1/2 T. cooking oil in a wok. Add carrots and yellow onion, and fry 1 minute.

Add the green onions, mushrooms and garlic and fry 30 seconds.

Add spinach and fry until spinach is cooked down.

Add noodles and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until heated through, incorporating veggies throughout noodles. A large fork works well for this. Finally add 1-1/2 t. sesame oil and 1-1/2 T. sesame seeds and toss through.

They aren’t the kind of thing I’d usually make for a weeknight dinner because of the prep time, but I had bought the shiitake mushrooms for this and didn’t want them to go bad before I got it made.

The verdict? Everyone but the youngest, pickiest eater loved them! I also made Pioneer Woman’s steak bites and they paired up fabulously!

I promise to use the other bag of noodles before 2011.