Sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables

Japchae, sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables and meat, is one of Korea’s best-loved dishes, and one of the most popular on my website as well.
If anyone asks me to recommend a good potluck dish, I don’t hesitate to answer japchae for the simple reason that pretty much everyone loves it. At any gathering it’s hard to pass up these chewy, sweet, and slightly slippery noodles with colorful stir-fried vegetables and mushrooms, its irresistible sesame flavor, healthy amount of garlic, and light, refreshing taste.
Stir frying each ingredient separately seems like a lot of labor, but each one requires a different cooking time and a bit of care, and keeping the color and freshness of each ingredient intact makes for a stunning final presentation. An easy way to make it even prettier and more nutritious is to use more vegetables and less noodles, although this is hard to recommend because the noodles are delicious by themselves.
Let me know if you make this at a party! Double, triple, quadruple the ingredients and let everyone taste your japchae!

Ingredients

 (serves 4):

• 4 ounces beef, filet mignon (or pork shoulder), cut into ¼ inch wide and 2½ inch long strips
• 2 large dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 2 to 3 hours, cut into thin strips
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 large egg
• 4 ounces spinach, washed and drained
• 4 ounces of dangmyeon (sweet potato starch noodles)
• 2 to 3 green onions, cut crosswise into 2 inch long pieces
• 1 medium onion (1 cup), sliced thinly
• 4 to 5 white mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1 medium carrot (¾ cup), cut into matchsticks
• ½ red bell pepper, cut into thin strips (optional)
• ground black pepper
• salt
• vegetable oil

Directions

Marinate the beef and mushrooms
Put the beef and shiitake mushrooms into a bowl and mix with 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil with a wooden spoon or by hand. Cover and keep it in the fridge.