Hello hello everybody! : )
I’m re-introducing jjajangmyeon recipe (noodles in black bean sauce) to you today with a new, updated video. I originally uploaded a video showing you how to make jjajangmyeon in 2007, not long after I started posting to YouTube. Yes, it was 5 years ago! Time flies too fast!
That video was so popular that I decided to make a new version that’s easier to follow, and also shows you how to make jjajangbap with rice instead of noodles.
Jjajangmyeon is everybody’s favorite food. It’s actually a very popular Korean Chinese dish, created by early Chinese immigrants in Korea, catering to Korean tastes. Tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) is another example. The almost caramel taste of the savory black bean sauce over the thick, chewy wheat flour noodles makes for a really unique taste and texture. When I was young, a plate of jjajangmyeon from a Chinese restaurant always made me excited. When you order it delivered they bring you the noodles in a special tin box in under 30 minutes! I usually ended up covered in jjajang sauce and my mom had to give me a Kleenex.
Koreans even have a nonofficial celebration for jjm on April 14th, when single people celebrate their shared loneliness on Black Day with a bowl of jjajangmyeon.
Enjoy the recipe!
Ingredients for 2-3 servings
- 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 chunjang (Korean 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 toasted sesame oil
- ½ cup cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks for garnish
- water
Directions for making jjajang sauce
- Stir-fry the pork belly in a large, deep wok (or pan) with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for about 4-5 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
- Pour out the excess pork fat.
- Add radish and stir fry for 1 minute.
- Add potato, onion, and zucchini and keep stirring for about 3 minutes until the potato looks a little translucent.
- Clear a space in the center of the wok by pushing the ingredients to the edges.
- 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.
- Add 2 cups of water to the wok and let it simmer and cook with the lid closed for about 10 minutes.
- 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.
- Add the sesame oil and remove from the heat.
- Serve with noodles (jjajangmyeon) or steamed rice (jjajangbap).
Make jjajangmyeon
Noodles for jjajangmyeon can be found at Korean grocery stores. The noodles are thick and chewy.
- Boil the noodles in a large pot and drain. Rinse and strain in cold water.
- Put one serving of noodles onto a serving plate and add the jjajang sauce over top. Garnish with cucumber strips and serve immediately with kimchi or yellow pickled radish.
Make jjajangbap
- Make one serving of rice, and add the jjajang sauce over top.
- Garnish with cucumber strips on top of the jjajang sauce and serve it with kimchi or yellow pickled radish.
Heyy Maangchi!!! Is the bean paste w/ noodles taste sweet or what does it taste like?? And if we don’t have bean paste can we use Hoisin sauce instead? http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2010/04/hoisin-sauce-for-pho-vs-for-cooking.html…thankx
Rawwr14, definitely seek out the black bean paste. It is salty with a round flavor almost like miso or soybean paste, but a little sharp at the same time. Hoisin sauce is just a condiment, so it would be too much of a good thing in this. Keep looking for the black bean paste and get the right flavor profile. You won’t be disappointed.
Annyong Haseyo!!!!
it’s hard for me to find zucchini here in our place,..can i skip it or is there anything that i could replace on it,,,..
:)
Skip zucchini and use squash. If squash is not available either, just skip it. Use more onion or potato then. Good luck with making delicious jjajangmyeon!
Hi!What cut of pork do you use here? Can I use pork tenderloin which is more lean? Thanks:))
Yes, pork tenderloin sounds great! I usually use pork belly though to make this dish more rich. Yum! : )
I made this recipe for my friends and they loved it!
I plan on making this again very soon ^o^
Is there a Black Bean Paste available without Caramel coloring? I looked in H Mart and all the pastes have caramel. I purchased a jar of Black Bean Paste/Roasted in a round glass jar made by Haioreum. Is this the right product? The term roasted made me question it.
I returned the Roasted Black Bean Paste for a non roasted type in a brown plastic tub also made by Haioreum.
Why do you fry the Black Bean Paste? Why not just add it to the dish while cooking?
Frying black bean paste makes it more delicious. That’s how you make jjajang sauce.
hi maangchi! If I could not find black bean paste, can I use soy bean paste instead? thanks! =)
no, I wouldn’t use soybean paste for jjajangmyeon.
is it ok to use corn starch instead of potato starch? whats the difference?
Yes, corn starch works well.
I want to try this but I just need 1 serving for me :( Can you give me the measurements? Please! I want to try this so badly.
Sauce saves well in the refrigerator. I always make more than one serving… it also goes well over left over rice or in making fried rice.
Super good recipe. I tried making this with a recipe I found online, did not turn out so well. I tried your recipe and it was awesome. I really enjoyed this…but it finished too quickly. Love it.
I recently tried your receipe and it was delicious! Instead of buying a tub of black bean paste (just in case), I purchased a small package for ‘1-time’ use only and we also used udon instead of the traditional Korean myun.
My hubby and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make this dish. We made a little too much so we freezed some for another meal.
Thanks Maangchi for sharing this receipe! Another great (and easy) dish added to our homecook menu.
Thank you for your update! You can eat the sauce with rice. It’s called jjajangbap instead of jjajangmyun. myun is noodles and bap is steamed rice. : )
Hi Maangchi ! I want to cook this, but I don’t know the place to buy black bean sauce in Japan where I’m living . Is Black bean sauce like bean miso sauce of Japan ? thanks for reading ^^
Check out Korea town It’s sold at a Korean store. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/black-bean-paste
OMGGG!!! i want to try to cook this, but i cant eat pork,cant i replace it with anything else ? maghi pls help me :)
You can use chicken, beef, or shrimp. Cheers!
OMG Maangchi! I’ve had black bean sauce noodle at other restaurant in town, but it tastes nothing like this [perhaps they didn’t use yam] I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for the recipe, Maanchi!
I’m on diet so I use konyaku noodle instead of Jajang noodle, but still!!
LOVE THIS LOVE THIS!! Thank you VERY MUCH!
konyaku noodles? Yummy! You may like my mungbean jelly recipe. It’s very low calorie food. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/cheongpomuk-muchim
I made this today, but it tasted tastless, it was different from when I ate it at resturant.
I use canola oil and beef, I don’t know if this makes a difference.
Can you help me?
strange! Did you get all ingredients right amount and use right black bean paste? If it’s too bland for you, add more ingredients.
I think the yam is the key…to me it makes the noodle really tasty! try adding more yam to it *v*/ Like Maangchi said, more ingredients
Hi, is there anyway I can change the pork to something else? Thanks.