Jajangmyeon

Korean-Chinese black bean noodles: thick chewy noodles coated in a glossy, salty-sweet sauce of chunjang (fermented black soybean paste), pork, and onion, garnished with fresh cucumber and a single raw egg yolk

Origin: Incheon, Korea

From the journey of Soy.

Jajangmyeon (자장면) is the most beloved comfort food in South Korea: a dish so deeply associated with delivery meals, moving days, and childhood that the smell of the black bean sauce (jajang, from the Chinese zhájiàng, 'fried paste') has near-universal emotional resonance for Korean people. The dish was created by Chinese immigrant workers in the port city of Incheon in the early 20th century, adapting the Chinese zhajiangmian tradition using Korean ingredients and the Korean palate, then spreading through the network of Chinese-Korean restaurants (chunghwa-jip, 중화집) that established themselves in every Korean city and town. The defining ingredient of jajangmyeon is chunjang (춘장, literally 'spring paste'): a Korean-style fermented black soybean paste that is darker, more bitter, and more intensely savoury than its Chinese equivalent. The sauce is made by frying the chunjang in oil until it loses its raw, astringent edge (a technique called bokkeum, frying the paste), then combining it with pork, onion, and a little starch-thickened water to produce a sauce of extraordinary glossy depth. The result, coating thick, hand-pulled wheat noodles, is a dish that is neither Chinese nor Korean but a genuinely original creation of the Korean-Chinese community. Jajangmyeon is so culturally important that 14 April in South Korea has become 'Black Day' (블랙데이), an informal observance on which single people who did not receive gifts on Valentine's Day (14 February) or White Day (14 March) gather to eat jajangmyeon alone in solidarity — the dish becoming a symbol of solitary comfort. Jajangmyeon is also the quintessential delivery food: Korean delivery culture, long before global platforms, was built around the Chinese-Korean restaurant's ability to deliver jajangmyeon hot and quickly to apartment doors across the city.

Ingredients

Noodles

  • 400 g jajangmyeon noodles (fresh or dried thick wheat noodles; udon or fresh ramen noodles work if unavailable)

Sauce

  • 250 g pork shoulder or belly, cut into 1.5 cm dice
  • 4 tbsp chunjang (Korean black soybean paste), available at Korean grocery stores
  • 3 tbsp neutral oil, divided
  • 2 large onions, cut into 2 cm dice
  • 1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm dice
  • 100 g courgette, cut into 1.5 cm dice
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 300 ml water or light chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp potato starch or cornstarch mixed with 3 tbsp cold water (slurry)

Garnish

  • 1 small cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks, to garnish
  • 4 egg yolks, one per bowl (optional), to garnish

Method

  1. Fry the chunjang first (bokkeun chunjang): heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or deep frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chunjang paste and fry, stirring constantly, for 3–4 minutes until the paste loses its raw, astringent smell and becomes slightly looser and shinier. Remove from the pan and set aside. This step removes the bitterness that raw chunjang has.
  2. In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat. Add the pork dice and fry for 3–4 minutes until browned all over. Add the garlic and ginger, stir for 30 seconds.
  3. Add the onion, potato, and courgette. Stir-fry over high heat for 3 minutes until the onion begins to soften. Add the fried chunjang, sugar, and oyster sauce. Stir to coat all the vegetables and pork thoroughly.
  4. Add the water or stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a vigorous simmer. Cover and cook for 8–10 minutes until the potato is fully tender and cooked through.
  5. Give the starch slurry a stir to recombine it, then pour it slowly into the bubbling sauce whilst stirring. The sauce will thicken quickly into a glossy, coating consistency. Simmer for 1 further minute. Taste for seasoning: the sauce should be salty, slightly sweet, and deeply savoury.
  6. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain well and rinse under cold water to stop cooking and remove excess starch. Divide between four bowls. Ladle the hot jajang sauce generously over the noodles. Top with cucumber matchsticks and, if using, an egg yolk in the centre of each bowl.

Notes

Chunjang (춘장) is specifically a Korean product and cannot be replaced with Chinese tianmianjiang (sweet bean paste) or other black bean pastes: the flavour profile is distinct. It is available in jars at Korean grocery stores. The dish can also be made with seafood (squid and prawns) instead of pork for a lighter version (haemul jajangmyeon). Instant jajangmyeon is one of the top-selling Korean instant noodle products and gives a reasonable approximation of the sauce character; the homemade version with proper chunjang and fresh vegetables is significantly superior.

The Gastrographer

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