Korean Potato Noodle

On Tuesday morning while I was doing my morning run, food was the only thing on my mind. In fact, not just food, but my girls' lunch boxes ! I've not prepared or cooked anything the day before, so there was nothing I could heat up. Many things came to my mind - pasta, dumplings, thin bread..... they've had these already, suddenly Korean potato noodle came to my mind. I did a quick memory search, I have carrot, spring onion, some minced chicken, so ok I can do a quickie one.

This is the original ingredients list :

(Serves 4)

300g Potato noodles
4 Tbsp Dried cloud-ear fungus
1/4 Cup sesame oil
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
3 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cm Ginger, grated
2 Carrots, cut into 4cm matchsticks
2 Spring onions, cut into 4cm pcs
500g Bok Choy
1/4 Cup Japanese soy sauce (kikoman)
2 Tbsp Mirin
1 Tsp sugar
2 Tbsp Sesame seeds

Cook the potato noodles in a large pot of boiling water for about 5mins, or until the noodles are translucent. Drain & rinse thoroughly under cold water until the noodles are cold. Use a pair of scissors to roughly cut the noodles into lengths of about 6" (or to your liking). Pour hot water over the cloud-ear fungus & soak them for about 10 mins. When it's soft, cut into thin slices & set aside.

Heat 1 Tbsp of the sesame oil with the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based pan. Cook the garlic, ginger for 3 mins over medium heat, stirring regularly. Add the carrots, stir -fry for a min. Add the cooled drained noodles, spring onion, bok choy, remaining sesame oil, soy sauce , mirin & sugar. Toss well to coat the noodles with the sauce. Cover & cook over low heat for 2 mins, add the fungus, cook for another 2 mins. Remove from heat, sprinkle with sesame seeds & serve immediately.

* Since I have all the sauce ingredients in my pantry, garlic & ginger in my fridge, I did a simplified version with just carrots, spring onion & minced chicken. The girls loved it, this noodle will be a regular lunch box item from now onwards.