KOREAN BLACK BEAN NOODLES:
I first encountered Korean black bean noodles back in my more carefree, bouncy K-pop days, when I regularly listened to artists like Big Bang, 2PM, and Girls Generation and binge-watched Korean dramas with subtitles in between finishing my homework.
It was very much inevitable that I would attempt K food after witnessing everyone else consuming Korean BBQ, bibimbap, and sipping jajangmyeon.
Depending on whether you’re speaking to a Chinese person, a Korean person, a Japanese person, a person from Malaysia, etc., you may find that certain dishes in the realm of Asian cuisine have many variations. Many Chinese cuisines have traveled across boundaries and been modified for regional tastes. Have you ever eaten Chicken Manchurian at an Indian buffet, for instance?
One of these dishes is black bean noodles. One such recipe is our Zha Jiang Mian for Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles, which calls for mushrooms, pork, sweet bean sauce, and ground bean paste in the sauce.
Beijing Zha Jiang Mian is comparable to black bean noodles. Although the Korean meal jajangmyeon also contains pork belly, zucchini, potatoes, onions, daikon radish, and chunjang, both of these black bean noodles use bean paste.
INGREDIENTS
▢3 tablespoons vegetable oil
▢½ pound pork belly or any marbled piece of pork
▢1 cup daikon or Korean radish
▢2 small onions
▢1 zucchini
▢2 small potatoes
▢½ cup chunjang
▢2-3 cups water
Spicy Korean Chicken with Crispy Rice
▢Fresh Korean noodles
▢2 tablespoons potato starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
▢1 small seedless cucumber
▢Yellow pickled radish and some additional cut raw onion
INSTRUCTIONS:
- In a wok or pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat. The pork belly should be stir-fried until crisp and golden brown. Low stirring and high heat are the key ingredients! You can drain out any hog fat that has accumulated in the pan in large amounts.
- Add the radish and stir-fry it for 1 minute before adding the potato, onion, and zucchini. Stir-fry the potato for a few more minutes, or until it turns translucent.
Spicy Korean Soft Tofu Soup
- The remaining 2 teaspoons of oil should be placed in the center of the wok or pan. Add the chunjang (Korean black bean paste), and then let it fry for a minute in the oil in the center of the pan. Then combine everything.
- Allow the sauce to come to a boil after adding 2 cups of water. Reduce the heat, cover it, and simmer it for ten minutes. (If your sauce is getting too thick, add it to another cup of water gradually.) You should cook your Korean noodles at this time (follow the instructions on the package). Because this recipe creates a lot of sauce, which can be reheated and served with freshly cooked noodles whenever you want them, I didn’t specify how many noodles to use. Simply prepare what you want to eat for each meal.
- Verify that the potato is cooked through after 10 minutes. Add the potato starch slurry once it has finished cooking, and mix until it becomes thick and shiny. Finally, add the sesame oil.
- Add the cucumber as a garnish and serve with the noodles. Serve the radish pickles and finely sliced onion on the side.
