I was first exposed to Korean Black Bean Noodles during my more youthful, bouncy days of K-pop fueled ardor, when I would routinely listen to Big Bang, 2PM, and Girls Generation, and binge-watch Korean dramas with subtitles between finishing homework assignments. Watching all the Korean BBQ-eating, bibimbap-mixing, and jajangmyeon slurping made it pretty inevitable that I would try my hand at K cuisine, too.
When we started hanging around Beijing more often, I was surprised to find that this dish is actually a Chinese dish first and foremost, and a beloved Beijing staple at that. When it comes to the world of Asian food, one often finds that certain dishes have numerous iterations depending on whether you’re talking to a Chinese person, a Korean person, a Japanese person, a person from Malaysia, etc. A lot of Chinese dishes have made their way across borders and have been adapted for local tastes. Ever gone to an Indian buffet and had Chicken Manchurian, for example?
Black bean noodles is one such dish. Case in point, our recipe for Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles, Zha Jiang Mian, whose sauce involves mushrooms, pork, sweet bean sauce, and ground bean paste. When you look at the Korean version–jajangmyeon (note the adjusted spelling, but similar sound)––it uses chopped pork belly, zucchini, potato, onion, daikon radish, and chunjang. It is just as delicious in its own way, despite being quite different!
You can find this dish in Chinese Korean restaurants, but it’s easy to make at home once you’ve gotten your hands on the right paste. Luckily, Korean pastes are packaged for dummies, so you’ll find that chunjang (black bean paste) is in a black plastic tub, gochujang (red pepper paste) is in a red plastic tub, doenjang (soybean paste) is in a brown plastic tub, and ssamjang (a combination of gochujang and doenjang used for Korean BBQ) is in a green plastic tub. Okay that last one is the least intuitive, but still! Pretty dummy-proof.
So make a batch of these black bean noodles before your next K drama session, or try your hand at some of our other Korean-style recipes: Korean BBQ, Salmon Bibimbap, Kimchi Jigae, Kimchi Pancakes, or Quick Dubu Kimchi!
You’ll need:
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- ½ pound pork belly or any marbled piece of pork, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup daikon or Korean radish, cut into ¼-inch cubes
- 2 small onions, diced
- 1 zucchini, cut into ¼-inch cubes
- 2 small potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes
- ½ cup of chunjang, Korean black bean paste
- 3½ cups water
- Fresh Korean noodles
- Potato starch slurry (2 tablespoons of potato starch or cornstarch, combined with ¼ cup water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 small seedless cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks for garnish
- Yellow pickled radish and some additional cut raw onion, for serving
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan over high heat. Stir fry the pork belly until it’s golden brown and crisped. The secret is high heat and minimal stirring! If there is a significant amount of pork fat pooling in the pan, you can drain that off.
Add the radish and stir-fry for 1 minute, followed by the onion, zucchini, and potato. Stir-fry for another few minutes, until the potato is translucent.
Clear a space in the center of the wok or pan, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the Korean black bean paste (chunjang) and let it fry in the center of the pan in the oil for one minute. Now stir everything together.
Add 2 cups of water, and let the sauce come to a boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. This is the perfect time to cook your Korean noodles (follow the instructions on the package). I didn’t specify the quantity of noodles to use, because this recipe makes quite a lot of sauce, that can be reheated and served with freshly cooked noodles whenever you want them. Just cook the amount that you’d like to eat for each sitting.
After 10 minutes, check to make sure that the potato is cooked through. Once it’s fully cooked, add the potato starch slurry, and stir until thick and glossy. Finish off with the sesame oil.
Serve with the noodles, and garnish with the cucumber. On the side, serve you black bean noodles with that signature pickled radish and chopped onion.
Korean Black Bean Noodles (Jajangmyeon)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)
- ½ pound pork belly or any marbled piece of pork (225g, cut into small cubes)
- 1 cup daikon or Korean radish (cut into ¼-inch cubes)
- 2 small onions (diced)
- 1 zucchini (cut into ¼-inch cubes)
- 2 small potatoes (peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes)
- ½ cup chunjang (Korean black bean paste)
- 3½ cups water
- Fresh Korean noodles
- 2 tablespoons potato starch (or cornstarch, combined with ¼ cup water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 small seedless cucumber (cut into thin matchsticks for garnish)
- Yellow pickled radish and some additional cut raw onion (for serving)
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan over high heat. Stir fry the pork belly until it’s golden brown and crisped. The secret is high heat and minimal stirring! If there is a significant amount of pork fat pooling in the pan, you can drain that off.
- Add the radish and stir-fry for 1 minute, followed by the onion, zucchini, and potato. Stir-fry for another few minutes, until the potato is translucent.
- Clear a space in the center of the wok or pan, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the Korean black bean paste (chunjang) and let it fry in the center of the pan in the oil for one minute. Now stir everything together.
- Add 2 cups of water, and let the sauce come to a boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. This is the perfect time to cook your Korean noodles (follow the instructions on the package). I didn’t specify the quantity of noodles to use, because this recipe makes quite a lot of sauce, that can be reheated and served with freshly cooked noodles whenever you want them. Just cook the amount that you’d like to eat for each sitting.
- After 10 minutes, check to make sure that the potato is cooked through. Once it’s fully cooked, add the potato starch slurry, and stir until thick and glossy. Finish off with the sesame oil.
- Serve with the noodles, and garnish with the cucumber. On the side, serve with that signature pickled radish and chopped onion.
Nutrition
Binjon says
AHHH SO GOOD!!
not gonna lie, I was a bit skeptical to try this Korean recipe out on a Chinese recipe website but omg was I wrong to doubt you guys in the slightest bit. This was so authentic to the true Korean jjajangmyeon that I’ve had in korea. Not only was it sooo easy to make, it only took like 30 min total? Next time I’m gonna add more sauce and salt since I like my food pretty salty but overall, 9/10 huge hit for the fiancé and I!
Bill says
Hi Binjon, we eat and cook all kinds of food, and Korean food is right up near the top of our favorites list! Thanks for your vote of confidence and try some of our other Korean favorites :)
Joy says
This was delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe :)
Judy says
Hi Joy, did you see my lard recipe? Adding lard to these noodles will elevate them to another level.
Sharon says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve recently moved to a small town down in Florida and the Asian food options are sparse–much less the Korean food options. This tastes exactly like what I’ve had back home!
Judy says
Lovely, Sharon, we’re glad to fill the void. After traveling many of the states in the US, we understand :-)
Paul says
Thank you very much for this recipe! I love this dish, and can’t wait to try it out. By the way, is there any chance that you might possibly to be able to post a recipe for Bibim Naengmyeon at some point? Summer is here, and there’s nothing better on a hot evening. Regardless, thank you very much for all your fabulous recipes!
Kaitlin says
Hi Paul, you’re welcome! Hope you like it. I’ve actually never tried bibim naengmyeon but I know of it. Maangchi is our favorite blogger/vlogger for Korean food, and I know she has what I can only assume to be a very solid recipe. In the meantime, I’ll have to get my hands on a bowl! Thanks for reading and cooking :)
Stella says
Approximately how much sauce does this recipe make? Would you recommend halving the ingredients if I want to serve 1-2 portions (or 1 generous portion)? Thank you :)
Kaitlin says
Hi Stella,
This recipe makes quite a bit of sauce. I would halve the recipe for 2 servings. Cheers!
Matt says
Looks great! It’s so true about Asian dishes crossing borders. This dish has crossed into Japan as well. There, it’s known as jaja-men. While little known outside Japan, it is one of the three noodle dishes that the city of Morioka is famous for. The sauce is based on miso instead of black bean paste and often includes cubed eggplant. It is delicious in its own rite! Seek out some recipes online and try it!
Kaitlin says
Thanks, Matt! Interesting that Japan also has a version! We’ll give it a whirl!
Catering Den Haag says
This looks incredible! Yum!
Kaitlin says
Thanks!
Khanh says
Do you know if this type of noodle will keep? As in not get soggy and lose its elasticity after refrigeration?
Kaitlin says
Hi Khanh, hmm that’s a tall order. Noodles are best cooked fresh, but if you are planning on bringing this for next day lunch or something similar, you could try the fresh Korean noodles. Once they come out of the boiling water, toss them with some light oil and then transfer to the fridge. The dry noodles probably wouldn’t hold up as well.
Hope says
I have a question about beans… It looks like red beans are the same type of thing in the east and the west (just not used the same), but what about black beans? I’ve read that Asian foods use fermented soy beans and call that black beans, unlike, say, the black beans prevalent in Hispanic cooking.
Kaitlin says
Hi Hope, there are lots of different varieties of red beans and black beans. As for black beans, they are fermented black soybeans. These are indeed different from the black beans used in Hispanic cooking, for example, which, if we’re being technical are black turtle beans. Hope that sheds some light! :)
heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
i’m convinced that everyone had a kpop phase (or maybe that’s just an asian norcal thing…). anyways, i didn’t realize that zha jiang mien and jajangmyeon were so different! will have to try this one out and compare it to the usual zha jiang mien (:
Khanh says
I’m STILL in my K-pop phase.
Kaitlin says
Hahahah \(^o^)/
Kaitlin says
Hahahahah, I think you’re right Heather. It was a pretty revolutionary time of my life lolol. Hope you like the recipe!