Korean-Style Zha Jiang Mian

| By: Chris Kim |

Although Zha Jiang Mian is a Chinese dish, it has been adopted as one of the most enjoyable comfort foods for many Koreans. This delicious dish is surprisingly easy to make, even for those without much cooking experience. A few different kinds of vegetables along with pork and noodles are all that is needed to make a delicious dish of Zha Jiang Mian.

Ingredients

Yield: 2-3 servings

• 200 grams of pork (Ground pork or shoulder/neck cuts of pork)

• 300mL of olive oil (about a cup and half)

• 400 grams of fresh, hand-pulled noodles

• 1 medium onion (diced into small pieces)

• 1/8 of cabbage (diced into small pieces)

• 1 medium carrot (diced into small pieces)

• 1/3 of zucchini (diced into small pieces)

• 1/5 of Spring Onion (diced into small pieces)

• 1/5 of Cucumber (diced into thin slices)

• 150 grams of Chunjang (fermented black bean paste)

• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce

• 4 tablespoons of sugar

• 2 tablespoons of potato starch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water

• 2 cups of water

Cooking Instructions

1. Gather all the ingredients for the dish

2. Finely dice the vegetables and pork into small pieces.

3. Pour 300mL of olive oil into the pot along with 150 grams of Chunjang

4. (IMPORTANT : While keeping the fire on low level, MAKE SURE to stir the Chunjang until it’s done. This process will take about 10 to 15 minutes.)

5. Once the Chunjang is done, remove the sauce from the pot and keep the Chunjang on a separate dish.

6. On a frying pan, pour about 6~7 tablespoons of olive oil along with finely chopped spring onions

7. When the spring onion turns brown, place the pork onto the fan

8. When the pork is well done, apply two tablespoons of soy sauce to the dish

9. Add the vegetables and cook them until they are softened. Also, at this point, prepare a different pot and start boiling the water for the noodle.

10. Add the Chunjang sauce little by little as you stir.

11. Add 4 tablespoons of sugar once the meat and the vegetables are mixed with the chunjang sauce and add 2 cups of water to the sauce. When the water starts boiling, throw in the noodle and cook the noodles for about four to five minutes

12. On a separate dish, mix 2 tablespoons of potato starch with 2 tablespoons of water (Important: The ratio must remain 1:1) and slowly add it into the sauce. Make sure you stir well, so the starch doesn’t clot and is well-mixed within the sauce.

13. Serve the finished noodles on a dish, top the noodles with the Zha-Jiang sauce and garnish with thinly sliced cucumber.

Notes

• Of all the steps for making Zha Jiang Mian, step 3 and step 11 is crucial because it can determine the taste of Chunjang, the sauce of the dish.

• Step 3: The sauce of Zha Jiang Mian, or Chunjang is what determines the overall taste of the dish. Using a chunjang sauce bought straight from the market would make an ordinary dish of Zha Jiang Mian, but cooking it in olive oil for 10 to 15 minutes and letting chunjang absorb the oil would completely change the sauce. While this step seems insignificant, it enhances Chunjang’s flavor and texture and these 10 minutes will make Zha Jiang Mian no different than the ones you’d eat at a restaurant.

• The potato starch mixed with a couple tablespoons of water is a crucial step towards making a Zha Jiang sauce. It helps the sauce thicken and prevents the sauce from being too watery. After all, Zha Jiang mian isn’t a soup with noodle, it’s a noodle topped with some delicious sauce.

• As for the ingredients, other vegetables could be used, but the vegetables listed above represent the typical recipes used for the dish. Ground pork or pork neck/shoulder are recommended for the meat, but other alternatives, such as chicken or turkey, could also work.