Korea's Black Bean Noodles

Jjajangmyeon 짜장면

Jjajangmyeon (짜장면), is a noodle dish topped with a thick sauce made of chunjang (a salty black soybean paste), diced pork and vegetables, and sometimes also seafood. Jjajang, the name of the sauce, is the Chinese pronunciation of the Chinese characters 炸醬, which literally means "fried sauce." Myeon (also spelled myun) means "noodle", which Chinese character is 面

The dish has been known in South Korea as jjajangmyeon (or chajangmyeon; 짜장면) since the first time the dish was imported to Korea. Even in current times, the vast majority of Korean Chinese restaurants use this Korean spelling.

However, according to Korean Alphabetization of Foreign Words (외래어 표기법; 外來語 標記法), a manual under a regulation issued by South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Education (문화교육부; 文化敎育部) (currently the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (교육과학기술부; 敎育科學技術部)) in 1986, the Korean alphabetization of stop consonants (e.g. 짜; jja; Cha) should not use Korean fortis except for some established usages. According to this rule, the Korean alphabetization of the word '짜장면' is jjajangmyeon. As a result, the alphabetization of the dish in recent years has been jjajangmyeon in official government documents and the mainstream media.

However, there have been noticeable criticisms on the Korean alphabetization of this word. Those in favor of the alphabetization jjajangmyeon question if champon should really be called Jambong as per the official manual (the popular dish was allowed to be alphabetized jjambbong as an exception to the rule). According to the 95th episode of Korean food culture cartoon Sikgaek (식객; 食客), Ahn Dohyeon (안도현), the So-wol Prize winning Korean poet, announced that he would always write the dish's name as '짜장면,' not '자장면,' because the former is the name with which he associates all his childhood memories of the dish.

Also, in most old Korean dictionaries, the hanja for jjajangmyeon is "酢醬麵". The first hanja's Mandarin Chinese pronunciation is similar to 'ja', and the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the hanja "炸" is close to 'jja'.

On August 31, 2011, the National Institute of The Korean Language (국립국어원; 國立國語院) announced that jjajangmyeon (짜장면) has been accepted as an alternate standard spelling of the dish alongside the existing jajangmyeon (자장면) on August 22, 2011, and has been added to the Standard Korean Language Dictionary (표준국어대사전; 標準國語大辭典) with 38 other words, hoping to end the long-standing discrepancy between the commonly used spelling and the standard spelling.

The dish originated from zhajiangmian (炸醬麵, literally "fried sauce noodles") in China's Shandong region. The pronunciation of the dish's name is nearly identical to that of its Korean counterpart. But Korean jajangmyeon differs from Chinese zhajiangmian, as Korean jjajangmyeon uses black Korean chunjang including caramel, and onions. Although originally a Chinese dish, Koreans have taken the noodles and created a thicker, yummier version that holds only a vague resemblance to its Chinese predecessor. (Think of New Yorkers and the wonders they’ve done with pizza.)

It would not be an understatement to say Korean diets would not be the same without this dish -- most Koreans eat it at least once a week, and have their favorite jjajangmyeon delivery shop on speed dial. 

Ingredients:

jjajangmyeon noodles
½ pound pork belly, cut into ½ inch cubes (about 1½ cups’ worth)
1 cup of Korean radish (or daikon), cut into ½ inch cubes (about 1 cup’s worth)
1 cup of zucchini, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 cup of potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1½ cups of onion chunks
3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
¼ cup and 1 Tablespoon of black bean paste
2 Tablespoons of potato starch powder, combined with ¼ cup water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl, set aside
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
½ cup cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks for garnish
water

Directions:

Directions for making jjajang sauce:

1. Stir-fry the pork belly in a large, deep wok with 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil for about 4-5 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
2. Pour out the excess pork fat.
3. Add radish and stir fry for 1 minute.
4. Add potato, onion, and zucchini and keep stirring for about 3 minutes until the potato looks a little translucent.
5. Clear a space in the center of the wok by pushing the ingredients to the edges.
6. Add 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil to the center of the wok, then add ¼ cup of black bean paste and stir it with a wooden spoon for 1 minute to fry it. Then mix everything in the wok and keep stirring.
7. Add  2 cups of water to the wok and let it cook with the lid closed for about 10 minutes.
8. Open the lid and taste a sample of the radish and potato. If they’re fully cooked, stir in the starch water little by little. Keep stirring until it’s well mixed and thick.
9. Add the sesame oil and remove from the heat.
10. Serve with noodles (jjajangmyeon) or steamed rice (jjajangbap).

Directions for making jjajangmyeon:

Noodles for jjajangmyeon can be found at Korean grocery stores. The noodles are thick and chewy.
1. Boil and drain the noodles. Rinse and strain in cold water.
2. Put one serving of noodles onto a serving plate and add the jjajangsauce over top. Garnish with cucumber strips and serve immediately with kimchi or yellow pickled radish.

Directions for making jjajangbap:

1. Make one serving of rice, and add the jjajang sauce over top.
2. Garnish with cucumber strips on top of the jjajang sauce and serve it with kimchi or yellow pickled radish.

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