Stir Fried Korean Noodles (Dangmyeon) with Marinated Minced Beef

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kornoodlesbeefpAs you might have noticed, I have been quite lazy in the kitchen during last weeks. Due to my recent frequent trips, I don’t find motivation to cook complicated dishes, not to mention trying new recipes. Last weekend however I felt an urgent need for cooking adventures and decided to prepare my very first bibimbap, the famous Korean beef and vegetable rice dish. I wanted to go shopping, but looking through my fridge I saw that, miraculously, I had almost all the ingredients. I started to marinate the minced beef, I prepared the vegetables, assembled the sauces and suddenly realised… I ran out of rice! If you are Asian or, like me, an Asian food addict, you can imagine the horror, since the shop selling good quality rice is far and there was no way I could get there before the closing time. This happened for the first time in my life (of course I count only the years since I have fallen in love with Japanese short grain rice), so after the first moment of panic, I started to look for a solution and came up with this simple, but absolutely delicious, Korean-inspired dish.

The vegetables depend on your preferences (maybe apart from the carrot which in my opinion goes perfectly with Korean flavours), the crucial elements being the sauce, the marinated beef and, last but not least, the Korean sweet potato noodles, called dangmyeon (당면). Light brown, or rather greyish, they don’t look very attractive when dry, but they are my definite favourite transparent noodles. Contrary to all the glass noodles I know, they actually do have their own delicious taste, though they absorb easily flavours from the sauces and spices. I love them especially for their slightly chewy texture other noodles lack. I find them excellent with Chinese dark soy sauce and here they were perfect with strongly flavoured marinated beef. In short, the initial catastrophe ended up in an invention that is already on my staples list. If you cook Korean from time to time, you will probably have all the seasoning and sauce ingredients in your kitchen at any time.

The beef marinade, the sauce (substantially modified) and the remaining ingredients (everything slightly changed) are inspired by a bibimpab recipe found in the excellent The Food and Cooking of Korea by Young Jin Song.

If you don’t like beef, but feel like experimenting with these Korean noodles, I have posted here a similar stir-fried dish with chicken.

Preparation: 20 minutes (+ beef marinating time: 30 minutes at least)

Ingredients (serves two):

2 portions of Korean sweet potato starch noodles (I take usually about 80 g for two, but it depends on your appetite)

1 courgette, julienned

1 big carrot julienned

6-7 fresh shiitake mushrooms (or dried ones; soaked until soft), sliced (without stems)

1 onion, sliced (it can be the white part of the spring onion)

(a handful of soybean or mung sprouts)

200 – 250 g minced beef

Beef marinade:

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (I have used Chinese dark soy sauce)

2 small garlic cloves, crushed or grated

1 tablespoon chopped spring onion green part

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice wine (I have used, as always, sake)

salt and pepper

Sauce:

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chilli paste)

1 teaspoon (or more) Korean chilli powder

1 tablespoon agave syrup (or honey or another syrup)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon soy sauce (light)

Combine the marinade ingredients with the minced beef. Cover and let marinate for 30 minutes (you can leave it for several hours or even overnight, but refrigerated).

Combine the sauce ingredients.

Soak the noodles in boiling water for about 20 minutes before you start stir-frying.

Heat one tablespoon oil in a wok.

Stir fry the beef until crunchy.
Add the onion and the shiitake and stir fry until the onion becomes soft.

Add the carrot and stir fry for about one minute.

At the end add the courgette (and the sprouts if you use them), the noodles and the sauce.

Stir fry until the sauce thickens.

Serve sprinkled with green onion and toasted sesame seeds.

Published by Sissi

41 Replies to “Stir Fried Korean Noodles (Dangmyeon) with Marinated Minced Beef”

      1. I was rereading the post as I had barely skimmed it on the first posting and was led to the previous use of these noodles with chicken, which I seem to have missed commenting on, for some reason. I love both chicken and beef so it would be hard deciding what version to make. 🙂 Of course, I’d have to buy most of the ingredients in the recipe, including the noodles.

        1. Thank you so much, A_Boleyn. I prepare my stir-fried dishes with chicken all the time, so it was a nice change. Yes, this is a recipe for those who cook Korean from time to time (the most important ingredients can be kept for quite a long time, but of course they need to be bought one day). On the other hand, I’m not sure if my use of Chinese soy sauce and Japanese sake (instead of Korean rice wine) are not shocking for Koreans!

  2. Oh how I love little dishes like this! I have no problem with beef so these little strips of beef with vegetable sounds good to me. I’ve never tried sweet potato noodles. Nice recovery! 🙂 They sound quite interesting. Another bowl of goodness with lots and lots of flavor! Thanks Sissi!

    1. Thanks a lot, MJ. I must say I don’t cook beef often and (I think) never in stir-fries, so it was a nice change from the chicken breasts. I think you would love sweet potato noodles. They are not sweet of course and the taste is extraordinary (I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes but love these noodles). I’m sure you can buy them online. You will not regret the buy!

  3. Hi Sissi, I’m so behind in commenting…that I’m really ashamed of myself. I backtracked to the delicious things you posted, and one of them is the roasted chick peas which I have also made, but your recipe is so much better, which I must try!

    Your roast cauliflower with the chili oil is truly superb, and elegant!…and your Stir Fried Korean Noodles with the Marinated Minced Beef, really ‘blows me away’! I still think you should open up an Asian eatery; or do catering, or ‘private chef’…both catering, and private chef cooking was my best choice in my culinary field!

    1. Hi, Elisabeth. I’m also late with commenting… I have travelled a lot lately (it’s finished now) and found it so difficult to post regularly, not to mention visiting and commenting on other blogs! Thank you for all the compliments. I’m really flattered.
      Haha! I think I’m too lazy to work as a cook… though I’m sure it’s fascinating.

    2. And of course, I wouldn’t have competences to cook professionally! You are so sweet! (Even though you exaggerate 😉 ).

  4. I hear you on the travel front sister 😉 (but at least one of us is getting something up on her blog – lol!) — to me, this is a beautiful dish — first, I have to comment on the pretty factor (I’m a very visual person so I notice these things :)) — love the fresh blue with grey complements – the bowl and the chopsticks – beautiful! And the dish… frankly, I would never guess this was anything less than well planned out. It has all the elements of a delicious and satisfying meal and now you have me very curious about the sweet potato noodles… I wonder if I would recognize them as distinct from other glass noodles when eating Asian cuisine (which mostly happens in restaurants for me ;-))… you describe them well and they sound more robust and interesting… I have to look out for them next time!

    1. Hi, Kelly. I have travelled to several countries in a very short time, so it has really changed my life pace. Now it’s finished, so I hope I will post regularluy, visit my blogging friends, cook more… Thank you so much for kind compliments. I am really flattered and so happy you like my humble photograph.
      You can see these noodles here: http://www.amazon.com/CJ-Glass-Noodles-17-63-Packages/dp/B003U905M6. They are transparent but have a brown paper colour, so you will recognise them easily in any Asian shop. Don’t buy the Chinese ones though (they aren’t 100% sweet potato and the addition of another flour makes them really inferior in my opinion… I cannot make myself finish the package I once bought, unable to find the Korean ones).

  5. Yum, this looks really delicious! It seems to be quite similar to chap chae which I love. I can’t wait to try your recipe. I have the cookbook you mentioned and it’s my favorite for Korean recipes. If you love Korean food, I highly recommend checking out aeriskitchen’s blog, her recipes are amazing and my Korean husband always gives them a thumbs up!
    PS. J’adore ton blog et suis super contente de faire la connaissance d’une autre foodie de Suisse-romande passionnée de cuisine asiatique, yeaahh!! 🙂

    1. Thank you so much, Caroline, and welcome to my blog. I have tasted chap chae only once (still haven’t made it!) but this dish is a bit stronger in taste mainly because of the Chinese dark soy sauce (I know it’s far from being genuine but I love it with Korean noodles). Thank you so much for the recommendation. I think I have heard the name of this blog somewhere… What a coincidence that you have the same book. PS Je suis ravie de faire ta connaissance également! Merci beaucoup pour ton gentil commentaire. N’hésite pas à me dire si j’écris des bêtises concernant la cuisine coréenne. Je ne suis qu’une débutante (même si je suis folle de kimchi, gochujang et autres délices coréennes). A très bientôt j’espère!

  6. I think I have this noodle in my pantry. I was going to make some Korean dish with it and never got around to it. Looks so good and love Korean food.

  9. That a gorgeous and vibrant looking bowl noodles. Must be very flavorful as I see all the Korean heat that you added. Oh my kind of food. Thank you Sissi! 🙂

  10. I can imagine the horrific reaction I have if I realize I ran out of rice when I needed some! 😛 But good call in replacing the starch with noodles. I think your dish turned out wonderful. 🙂

  11. Yum! Another awesome dish Sissi…I love the texture of this noodles, and I still some in my cupboard. I like the flavors…spicy and a touch of sweet…very typical in Asian cuisine.
    You sure mastered this Korean dish.
    Thanks for the recipe and hope you are having a lovely week 😀

  12. DANG MYEON!! One of my favourite korean foods. Funny the first tiem I came across them was in Korean dramas- I’m completely addicted! In that show it was a horrible cold wintry day and the lead actor was slurping through a bowl of dang myeon and it looked so delicious I felt I had to try it haha.

    1. Hi, Shuhan. I’m glad to learn you are also a fan. Don’t they have an addictive chewy texture? I think it’s not appreciated by many Europeans… (from my experience). I don’t know any Korean series, but I’m a big fan of food-related Japanese ones.

  14. HI Sissi, is it dangmyeon that’s used in japche? I think so, right? I’d love to try this – I really like those noodles. It took me a while to get to like them. I find them quite chewy, and in the beginning I had the feeling like I had whole noodles going down my throat but after trying them a few times now I love them.

    The colours and ingredients you’ve used looks wonderful, and again, you’ve done a gorgeous job with the presentation. I could really imagine getting such a dish from a good restaurant!

    1. Hi, Charles. Yes, it is. It’s funny because I felt in love with these noodles the first time I bought them (due to expensive and/or not good Korean restaurants I haven’t had much occasions to eat Korean food outside of my house and I usually taste products cooked by myself 🙂 ). I love the chewiness, but I know many Europeans don’t appreciate this texture (just like squid: everyone I know who hates it tells me it’s because of the texture and I say “it’s the texture I like most” 😉 . Thank you so much for the compliments. Frankly this dish doesn’t look very appetising… all brown and dark…

  15. Your adaptation for the rice is by far my favourite, I adore glass noodles! I really love it when a recipe comes together quite by fate, having all the ingredients on hand — it’s like it was meant to be. Your dish looks satisfying and refreshing with the crunchy vegetables. And it is beautiful against that lovely blue bowl. Now I’m wishing I will be home for lunch tomorrow but instead I’m on location for a shoot so we’ll be ordering in food (never as good or as healthy).

    1. Thank you so much, Eva. Your compliments make me blush 🙂 It’s one of my favourite bowls when I have dark, unattractive looking food. The turquoise colour somehow makes everything look cheerful. Have fun with your shooting session! I’m sure ordering food is only a small disadvantage of this extraordinary adventure you are living.

  16. i’ve cook korean sweet potato starch noodle once, it’s pretty easy to overcooked…..
    never seen any of it now available in the supermarket, i guess i’m using rice glass vermicelly for this recipe ten…
    the marinated beef must be ultra delicious!

    1. Thank you, Dedy. I never cook these noodles. I only soak them and I have never had them too soft. On the other hand if you have bought Chinese sweet potato noodles, they get mushy at once (not because you have overcooked but because they are different…); this is why I advise only those made in Korea.

  17. It’s funny how sometimes traveling instead of inspiring pushes in a certain limbo state… I don’t even want to look in the direction of the kitchen for a while then. Speaking of which, that’s one fabulous dish you have here, I’ll have to stock up a few Korean ingredients soon 🙂

    1. Thank you so much, Gintare. I have in fact lots of inspirations thanks to the several countries I have recently visited but… for now I lack courage and energy to put them into action 😉

  18. I’ve been so busy with the kids and work that I haven’t made anything complicated for… ahem quite long time!!! Especially after trips, it’s very hard to go back to regular schedule. I definitely get lazy and we eat out often too. This is a nice quick meal that we all can rely on!

    1. Thank you, Nami. I am very lazy too… Ashamed seeing all the delicacies my blogging friends (like you!) prepare.

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