Easy, no meat Chapchae

I’m dropping recipes like fresh pancakes ’cause there’s nothing more to do! Besides I really do miss writing. I reckon, now that I’m way past the middle of my second trimester, I’m already out of the phase where I prefer to just be lazy. Well, you really cannot take away the lazy days out of a pregnant lady. I still do have those. That’s why if you’ve read the latest post, I am not posting videos anymore. In here, expect that I am posting less of the photo of the ingredients as well and you’ll find me increasingly boring.

There’s a big reason behind that. One of the worst ever complications of pregnancy is having aches and pains everywhere and it just happened to be both my wrist. Yes, you’ve read that right. I am suffering from De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis which produces pain in the wrist area upon specific movements of the thumb. Not only that, I am also having Sciatica– a shooting pain (running from my lower back to my bum down to my thigh) also another side effect of pregnancy if I may say so. I am bound to many restrictions not only socially because of the Coronavirus lockdown but also physically and it has affected me in so many ways, so please be considerate and understanding! 🙂

Nevertheless, I am fighting off the cabin fever by posting recipes I tried to take photos before. My next recipe is a simple, no meat, easy to make Chapchae. Chapchae has been one of the staple korean foods for me. God, I miss korean food! It’s also very much husband approved. I have lifted this recipe from Jessica Gavin’s site and I truly swear by it. I sort of lifted almost everything from her procedure because there’s no one like its convenience. But since you know me, I try to make some alterations based on my own experience of eating a dish from a resto, what my husband and I prefer and from what not. So I gave it a go!

Ingredients:

¼ cup soy sauce , low sodium
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup firm tofu, diced, (7 ounces)
8 ounces sweet potato starch noodles
4 ounces spinach, fresh
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
½ cup carrots, julienne
2 scallion stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional, because I ran out of scallions :P)
1 ½ teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 scrambled egg sliced into thin verticals
nori sheets, cut into thin verticals

Procedure:

Bring a large pot of water to boil, enough to fit the noodles. Cook the noodles for 5 minutes until it is softened. Do not discard water. You will use it to blanch the spinach.
Once you are done with the noodles, drain the noodles in a sieve and again do not discard the water. Run a cold water to the noodles and dash in some sesame oil and mix for added taste and texture
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together soy sauce and honey, set aside
With the water from the drained noodles, put it in a pot and add the spinach. blanch it in medium heat until wilted for 1-2 minutes
Drain the spinach from a colander, and run a cold water. Once able to touch it, drain the excess water from the spinach by squeezing it and forming a ball and cut in half. (See the photo below)
On a large pan, in medium heat, add the 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil and add the scrambled eggs with dash of salt and pepper and fold into three. Once fully cooked, set aside and slice thinly.
On the same pan, heat the remaining sesame oil and add the garlic and onions, sauté until softened. Add the shiitake and tofu and mix together for the aroma. Add the carrots and the spinach and mix altogether.
Add the half of the soy sauce and honey mixture for the taste and mix.
Lastly, add the noodles, incorporate all the ingredients and add the half of the soy sauce and honey mixture altogether until the color is equal.
Serve and top with the sliced scrambled eggs and nori and sesame seeds
share and enjoy!