Korean Chinese Food. It’s a thing. A damned good thing.
My first experience in devouring a bowl of Noodles with Black Bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon) happened when I was with Jenny and her family at San Wang Restaurant in Japantown in San Francisco. San Wang is a Korean Chinese restaurant. An unassuming, price-friendly, large portioned, super delicious Korean Chinese restaurant (run by Koreans). At the time, I didn’t realize there was such a thing as Korean Chinese food, but I was very happy to be discovering it.
The cuisine is said to have developed in late 19th century (South) Korea in the port city of Incheon where there was a significant population of Chinese immigrants. As many delicious fusion cuisines begin, they applied their knowledge and instincts from their homeland, but were then influenced by local taste preferences as well as the ingredients that were available to them at that time. Similar to the development of Chinese take out in the U.S., Korean Chinese has become a type of fast food in Korea whereby delivery dudes on motorbikes are jetting around town with heated metallic boxes packed with bowls of Jajangmyeon and other such dishes.
Jajangmyeon
This noodle dish is easy to make and don’t let its appearance (a pile of black noodles) fool you - Jajangmyeon is delicious! The base of the sauce begins by rendering diced pork, then you add a bit of ginger and garlic, a few other veggies, the black bean sauce, and then a few splashes of the noodle cooking water to bring the whole thing together. As it turns out our kids love it too.
Preston with the secret ingredient (black bean sauce)
While we were in the produce section at the store Preston decided to pick out a parsnip and a mushroom for his cart. I almost put them back on the shelf before I realized he might be on to something - these two ingredients are actually great additions to Jajangmyeon!
Chloe on mushroom prep
Jajangmyeon mise en place
Inspired by Koreatown by Deuki Hong.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 1/2 lb fresh jjajangmyeon/udon noodles or spaghetti seek out your local Korean market
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 oz pork belly, medium dice
- 2 oz pork shoulder, medium dice
- 1/2 inch know fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1/2 Yukon gold potato, peeled and small dice
- 1 medium red onion, small dice
- 1/4 zucchini, peeled and small dice
- 1/4 zucchini, julienned
- 1 cremini mushroom, medium dice
- 1/2 parsnip, small dice
- 1/4 cup black bean paste
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- kosher salt to taste
Ingredients
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- Bring a pot of water to a boil and season with salt. Heat the oil on medium-high heat until it is almost smoking. Add the diced pork belly and shoulder and render for 2-3 minutes until it begins to crisp. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for 1 minute, be careful to not let it burn. Add the vegetables and cook for 6-8 minutes or until softened. At this point you can begin cooking the noodles. Meanwhile, once the vegetables have softened add the black bean paste, sugar and 1/2 cup or so of the noodle water. Season to taste with salt. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add more noodle water if it becomes too thick. Once the noodles are cooked (just past al dente) add them to bowls and top with generous amounts of the sauce. Garnish with julienned zucchini
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