Letting go and Healing through Cooking...and Travel

Passport & Plate - Elk Japchae

South Korea | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
2 elk sirloin steaks
1/2 c tamari
1/4 c sesame oil
3 tbs sesame seeds
red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 head of garlic, minced
1 thumb of ginger, minced
1/2 cup of chopped green onions
honey (to taste)
16 oz Korean glass noodles (sweet potato starch noodles)
3 tbs oil (butter, coconut, etc) to fry veggies
1 head of kale or spinach
1 red bell pepper
2 carrots shredded
1 onion slivered
6 oz shitake mushrooms
Serves 2-4 people

 

How to prepare this recipe
In a shallow bowl, combine tamari, sesame oil, 3 cloves of minced garlic and ginger, green onions, hand crushed sesame seeds and red pepper flakes according to heat preference. Add steaks into the mixture and massage the marinade into the meat. Let the meat marinate for at least one hour.
Heat a large pot of water to a rapid boil and add sweet potato starch noodles, stirring noodles to separate and cook for about 15 minutes or until noodles are transparent, chewy and cooked through. Drain the noodles in a colander, place them in serving bowl and season generously with sesame oil and tamari. Add crushed sesame seeds and honey for desired sweetness... taste for flavors.
Prepare all the veggies by slicing into even sized strips. Using either a saute pan or wok, over medium high heat add oil and garlic, using chopsticks to cook until fragrant. Cook the peppers and onions in with the garlic until onions are translucent and peppers are bright and slightly softened. Add sliced shitake mushrooms with a swirl of tamari to season. Cook shitakes until most of the moisture has left the pan and they are browned and delicious. Taste as you go! Add more garlic or tamari as preferred. Lastly, add the kale or spinach and toss to combine all the veggies. Add crushed sesame seeds and a swirl of sesame oil to finish. When all the veggies are cooked and well seasoned, combine with noodles.
Bring either a grill or cast iron to heat with a small bit of oil or butter. Shake excess marinade off the steaks and sear each side till charred and delicious. Cook each side for desired doneness and according to the thickness of meat. Let the steaks rest for 10 minutes and slice thinly against the grain. Either place strips of elk along top of the japchae noodles or incorporate into the complete dish. Preferably serve with mom’s kimchi and pickled garlic. Enjoy!!

 

The story behind this recipe
I am a first generation Korean American living in Boulder, Colorado. My parents have been a big influence in my love for food and trying new things. I remember only fragments of my first and only trip to Korea when I was four years old. I do remember vividly the live octopus that my dad offered to me, freshly cut pieces wriggling around on a plate and the sucking sensation of the tentacles as it squirmed in my mouth, tasting mostly of the spicy sweet gochujang that it had been dipped in. Growing up in a Korean household, my mom did most of the cooking and I was immersed in the food she grew up with as well as the new food she was experiencing. I had some pretty interesting lunches that were packed and the older I got, the less I wanted to be associated with anything Korean. Being Korean meant being different and weird.
Cooking has changed my life. I moved to Boulder in 2009 and I was immersed in a food culture that lacked Korean food but it offered beautiful produce and a vast array of diets. This recipe is an homage to my mom and the love she showed her family with food as well as the love I have for Boulder and the shift that it has allowed me to have in my life.