Jjajangmyun (Noodles in Black Bean Sauce)

Jjajangmyun is the Korean version of its Chinese counterpart, "Zha Jiang Mian". The thick black sauce is made from black bean paste, with diced pork, potatoes and radish, and is served with springy-textured wheat noodles. The Chinese version is usually a lighter brown colour, made with soy bean paste and contains ground pork, and does not have the starchy consistency of Jjajangmyun.

If I had to eat instant noodles, I would usually cook the instant Jjajangmyun as I enjoy the chewy noodles coated in the sweet and salty black bean sauce, with bits of potato and radish cubes. I hate to admit it, but little J loves it too, and he would happily slurp up the noodles and end up with black sauce smeared all around his mouth. Well, he is a very picky eater, so I'm relatively happy that at least he enjoys eating this.

I decided that it was about time I made these noodles from scratch if I was going to be feeding it to little J so often. So, I bought a jar of black bean paste from the Korean supermarket (with a picture of Jjajangmyun on it so I know I had the right stuff), and found a great recipe on Maangchi.com. It's really easy to make, and doesn't really use many ingredients. The only thing is that the diced pork needs to be slowly fried until browned and crisp, and most of the fat rendered out.

Well, these noodles are super delicious and has to be served hot, immediately! I still have leftovers from yesterday and will be sharing some with little J for lunch later! Yum yum!