Jajangmyeon (Blackbean Sauce Noodles)
Wonderful Chinese Korean noodle dish that's a favorite among Koreans, especially children. Also a favorite in Korean dramas.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 3 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 3 servings fresh noodles for jajangmyeon or kal guksu
- 1/2 cup Chinese black bean paste ((춘장 chunjang/choonjang))
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 medium size onion (, chopped)
- 1 1/2 cup cabbage (, chopped)
- 5 oz pork loin, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup or 3 fresh (, dried or fresh shitake mushrooms, chopped (optional))
- 1/2 cup zucchini (, chopped)
- 1 carrot (, chopped (optional))
- 2 green onions (, chopped)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 cup water or chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cucumber (, julienned)
- 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- 1
Boil a pot of water for noodles. Cook noodles in boiling water for 7-10 min (based on package directions) and rinse in cold water.
- 2
NOTE - Fresh noodles are best. You can buy one’s that says “짜장면 국수” or "칼국수"(Kalguksu/Kalgooksoo) - both work fine. You can also make your own homemade fresh noodles by following my recipe in my Kalguksu post.
- 3
Chop all vegetables and meat into small cubes. Julienne cucumbers to add as garnish.
- 4
In a non-stick frying pan, add equal amount of chunjang and oil to pan on medium/medium low heat. Stir often, cook for 7 min.
- 5
Remove chunjang from pan. It should be easy to bunch up the cooked chunjang and remove from oil. Discard the leftover oil in pan.
- 6
In ANOTHER pan, add 2 T oil to pan on medium heat. Sauté onions and cabbages for 10 min or more until onions become translucent.
- 7
Remove onions and cabbages from pan and set aside. Sauté pork on med-high heat for 2-3 min in the same pan.
- 8
Once pork is cooked, return onions, cabbages to pan. Add 1 T oil and remaining vegetables. Sauté all ingredients on med-high heat for 5 – 7 min. Veggies should still be slightly crunchy.
- 9
Add cooked chunjang paste to pan and stir everything, making sure the paste coats the ingredients evenly.
- 10
Stir fry for 2 min. Add 1 C water and 1 T sugar. Mix. Simmer fro 3-4 min.
- 11
Add the cornstarch slurry and stir for 2-3 min. It's ready when sauce has thickened to a little thicker than gravy consistency. Omit this step and just reduce the sauce to make a more conentrated Gan Jjajangmyeon.
- 12
Serve noodles topped with sauce and then some julienned cucumbers.