Easy Weeknight Chap Jae

I very much enjoy Korean food.  Every time I look up recipes for bibimbap or Chap Jae online, though, I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of steps there are.  And since I don't cook Korean food often, it always requires ingredients that I don't have on hand and won't necessarily use up all that quickly (and sometimes they're hard to find without making a trip to the Asian market).

I was up skiing in Mammoth in April, and we were doing our usual grocery trip.  And I found two things that are hard to find in LA.  One of those things is creamy chicken flavored Maruchan instant ramen, so I stockpiled that.  But the other thing was Korean sweet potato glass noodles!  And on the side was a super-easy recipe for chap jae!  So I picked up a couple packages of those, as well.

So now I present to you my modified version of the recipe on the side of the package.  Is this authentic? Probably not.  Is it super-easy? Absolutely.  Does it taste good? Yes.  My version is also vegan.  It makes 3-4 servings.

Ingredients

• 7 oz sweet potato glass noodles
• Half a brick extra firm tofu (~7 oz, you can press it if you want but it's not necessary)
• Half an onion
• One small zucchini 
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots
• A few generous handfuls of spinach
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp sugar

Instructions

1. Prepare the noodles according to the package.  The brand I used had two different cook methods.  One involved soaking the noodles for 30 minutes and then boiling them for 6 minutes, the other just called for boiling them for 6 minutes.  Both ways were fine.  If you're going to soak, do that first and then you can prepare the rest while the noodles are soaking.  You want them to be done or close to done when you start cooking the veggies.
2. Marinate the tofu.  In a bowl, mix 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, and 1 Tbsp sugar.  Cut the tofu into dominoes, and mix them with the marinade in the bowl.  Let sit while you do the rest of the prep work.
3. Make the sauce.  Take the remaining 2 Tbsp soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar, and mix in a small bowl.
4. Prep your veggies.  This is a stir fry, so you want to have everything ready to go.  Shred the carrots and slice the zucchini into thin slices.  It's helpful if you have a food processor with a shredding attachment and a slicing attachment.  Chop the onion into half-rings. 
5. Pour a little bit of a neutral oil into a large skillet.  Let it got shimmery and then add the onions, stirring frequently until they're soft.  Add the tofu and heat through, then add the carrots and zucchini.  Once those are wilty and soft, add the noodles, the sauce, and the spinach.  Stir until the spinach is wilted, then remove from eat and serve.

Avocado Toast

Do you really need a recipe for avocado toast?  No.  At it's most basic, it's avocado.  On toast.  The whole recipe is right there in the name.  But if Chrissy Teigen and Gwyneth Paltrow can include recipes for avocado toast in their books that they sell you for money, I can include it on my blog that is free.  Consider this more of a guide to things that I like to put on my avocado toast, and that I think you should put on yours.

First, you need your base.  Now, you could use bread and toast it, however, I will offer up a different suggestion.  Last year I was doing keto for a while, and toast was a no go.  Since I love carbs I gave that up, but I did find something that was actually quite low in net carbs that is also delicious.  Crisp bread!  My favorites are the Dr. Kracker Pumpkin Seed Cheddar flatbread, or, for even fewer net carbs, Trader Joe's Norwegian Crispbread.  The Trader Joe's crispbread has 3 net carbs!  And is actually delicious.

Next step:  garlic spread.  That shit is delicious.  I was unaware of its existence until we moved into our apartment, which is across the street from a middle eastern restaurant.  All of the plates come with garlic sauce, and I love it.  Despite not loving garlic.  This whole post is full of similar contradictions.  Anyway.  You can get it at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, or probably anywhere, really.  Just get it.  You will not be sorry.

After the garlic spread comes the avocado.  If you can find a fuerte avocado, get it.  It is far superior. At this point I should make a confession.  I didn't use to like avocado.  As it turns out, it's actually the texture I can't deal with; I find it gross and slimy.  But if it's mashed it's fine.  So I mash 1/4-1/2 (depending on the size of the base/avocado) of a ripe avocado on my avocado toast, and I can handle it.

At this point, if you have access to fresh, delicious tomatoes, slice them up and stick them to the mashed avocado.  Cherry tomatoes also work, but you still have to slice them.  If you live in a place where tomatoes are sad, hothouse grown, move on.  Wait until summer.  I live in CA, so there are delicious tomatoes at the farmer's market year round.

Now it's time to put an egg on it.  When I was using actual bread for my avocado toast, I would put a fried egg on top.  Fun fact!  I also used to not like any eggs but hardboiled, scrambled, and omelettes.  The runny yolk doesn't really work with the crispbread, though; it just make it soggy and structurally unsound, so now I do scrambled eggs.

Last, but not least, Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel seasoning.  So good.  Sprinkle liberally on top.