My mother has written two cookbooks.  They’re small, spiral-bound volumes full of my favorite childhood meals and desserts.  She didn’t print many.  Just enough for rogue spinsters and family.  But they’re great cookbooks, and the world should know about them. And with John Besh and Mario Batali out of the picture-this could be my mom’s year.

To be fair, you won’t find a japchae recipe in volume I or volume II.  But that’s only because Wegmans didn’t stock dangmyeon noodles in the 80’s and 90’s.  My mom was (and is) always trying new recipes and experimenting.  As a kid, I thought all moms fed their kids carefully considered meals from the Betty Crocker international cookbook, and had a non-negotiable mayonnaise brand.  (HELLMANN’S!)   It wasn’t until I asked a friend to stay for dinner that I learned otherwise.

“Well, what’s your mom making?”  My friend asked.  She’d spent ninety straight minutes with me, and probably had the wits about her to anticipate things might unravel at any moment.

We walked into the kitchen.  Harry Belofante was blaring, and my mother had just set a tray of bananas on fire.

“Ooh.”  I said, turning to my friend, “It’s Caribbean night.”

My friend declined.  Maybe her family was having Stovetop Stuffing or something.  And, in hindsight, a stew studded with raisins and cilantro was an ambitions meal to spring on an eleven year old from Cheektowaga.  She missed out though.  In all the years since, I haven’t had goat so tender, nor bananas so perfectly caramelised.

Japchae

 

• 4 tsp tamari
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp rice wine
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 salt
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 inch knob of ginger, grated
• 1/2 lb sirloin steak, cut into strips
• 1 TBS chicken broth
• 1 tsp honey
• 100 g spinach
• 200 g sweet potato noodles (dangmyeon)
• 1 TBS avocado oil
• 1 carrot julienned
• 1/2 red pepper sliced into thin strips
• 5 shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly
• 4 green onions cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 TBS toasted sesame seeds, divided

1. Mix the tamari, sesame oil, rice wine, white pepper, salt, garlic, and ginger.
2. Divide the sauce mixture, and marinate the steak in one half of the sauce mixture for 1 hour.
3. Combine the other half of the sauce mixture with the chicken broth and honey.  Set aside.
4. While waiting, parboil the spinach for 30 seconds.  Remove the spinach and rinse.  Drain by squeezing the water out.  Don’t drain the water in the pot.  Keep it for the noodles.
5. Gently cook the noodles for five minutes.  Drain and cut into 6 inch lengths.  Toss with some sesame oil to keep it from sticking.
6. Heat the avocado oil until shimmering.  Add the beef and stir fry until cooked through.  Remove and set aside.
7. Add the carrot, pepper, and mushroom and cook for a minute or so.
8. Add the noodles, spinach, green onions, sauce, and half the sesame seeds.
9. Stir fry 2-3 minutes.
10. Plate and top with remaining sesame seeds.

Nutritional Information: (2 Huge Servings)

• Calories: 749
• Fat: 31
• Carbohydrates: 99
• Protein: 18.6