In Korea, a lot of people my age -- I'm 21, but my bones are 95 -- eat a lot of meat. Too much meat. So much meat that I want only vegetables every day. That is when I found japchae: sweet potato starch noodles with spinach, mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, carrots, onions, and very little meat.
I tried japchae from the traditional market, but more importantly, my Korean Culture class made japchae on a beautiful day. We even got some of the korean students who walked by to try it. They all said we did a good job (better than they thought we would) and they they were even proud of us!
I felt so healthy. If my tummy could speak, it would have thanked me for eating vegetables. I never thought I would be so happy to eat carrots in my life.
Making japchae takes a lot of patience and love. You have to boil the noodles, cook all of the vegtables separately, cook the meat, and then mix it all together with soy sauce, sesame seed oil and sugar. It is one of the best things I have eaten so far!
