Name: Black Bean Noodles (Jjajang Myeon)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar; 3 Kirby or small Persian cucumbers, julienned; 1 pound (455 g) Korean udon noodles, (see Note); 1 tablespoon potato starch stirred into 3 tablespoons cold water; 1 pound (455 g) large Yukon gold potatoes, finely diced; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon mirin; ½ pound (225 g) Korean green squash (see Note) or zucchini, finely diced; ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil; 1 pound (455 g) pork belly or pork jowl, cut into ½-inch (12 mm) cubes; 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger; 3 cups (720 ml) Master Anchovy Stock; 1 pound (455 g) white onions, finely diced; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar; Baechu Kimchi, for serving; Danmuji (sweet pickled radish; see Note), for serving; ¾ cup (180 ml) Korean black bean paste

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Korean Home Cooking

By Sohui Kim

Published 2018

About

Jjajang myeon—fresh wheat noodles in a sweet-savory black bean sauce with garlic and ginger—can be had in South Korea anywhere, anytime, even delivered to you on the edge of the Han River in Seoul. (Some specialty restaurants focus just on this dish and make the noodles from scratch—if you’re lucky you might get a glimpse of the noodle-maker hand-pulling the noodles.) Both the wheat noodles and the black bean sauce are Chinese in origin; this also goes really well with the