Jajangmyeon
짜장면: chewy wheat noodles under a glossy black-bean sauce with pork, onion and courgette
Jajangmyeon was first served by Chinese cooks in Incheon's Chinatown, by the port, and the old restaurant building there is now a museum about the dish. Today it is the most ordered takeaway in Korea, delivered in minutes by scooter on moving day, and eaten by singles on Black Day, 14 April. The sauce is built on chunjang, a thick, salty black-bean paste, fried with diced pork, onion, courgette and potato until it shines. Chef's tip: cut the pork and all the vegetables into the same 1.5 cm dice so they cook evenly and every forkful gets a bit of each.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the sauce
To serve
Method
0/10 doneStep 1: Heat 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok over a medium-low heat. Add 5 tbsp chunjang (Korean black-bean paste) and fry, stirring all the time, for 3 minutes, until it loosens, smells roasted and the oil turns dark. Common mistake: skipping this step. Raw chunjang tastes bitter and sharp; frying it is what makes the sauce mellow.
3 minStep 2: Tip the fried paste into a bowl, leaving as much oil in the wok as you can.
Step 3: Turn the heat to high. Add 9 oz pork shoulder or belly and 1 tsp ginger and stir-fry for 4 minutes, until the pork is browned on all sides.
4 minStep 4: Add 2 onions and 1 potato and stir-fry for 4 minutes, until the onion turns translucent at the edges.
4 minStep 5: Add 1 courgette and 3 ½ oz white cabbage and stir-fry for 2 minutes more.
2 minStep 6: Stir the fried chunjang back in with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp oyster sauce, then pour in 1 ¾ cups water. Bring to the boil.
2 minStep 7: Lower to a simmer, cover and cook for 8 minutes, until the potato is soft when pierced with a knife and the pork is cooked through with no pink inside.
8 minStep 8: Mix 2 tbsp potato starch or cornflour with 4 tbsp cold water. With the sauce simmering, stir it in a little at a time until the sauce is thick and glossy enough to coat a spoon. You may not need all of it.
1 minStep 9: Meanwhile cook 1 ⅓ lb fresh thick wheat noodles (jajangmyeon or udon) in a large pan of boiling water following the packet, usually 3 to 4 minutes. Drain, rinse briefly in warm water and drain again.
4 minStep 10: Divide the noodles between wide bowls, ladle the sauce over and top with ½ cucumber. Serve with 3 ½ oz yellow pickled radish (danmuji) and mix everything together well before eating.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 610 kcal
- Protein
- 23 g
- Carbs
- 82 g
- Fat
- 21 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does jajangmyeon take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of potato?
- Sweet potato, same weight (sweeter, cooks a little faster).
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