Jajangmyeon (Blackbean Sauce Noodles)

Step 1

Boil a pot of water for noodles. Cook noodles in boiling water for 7-10 min (based on package directions) and rinse in cold water.

Step 2

NOTE - Fresh noodles are best. You can buy one’s that says “짜장면 국수” or "칼국수"(Kalguksu/Kalgooksoo) - both work fine. You can also make your own homemade fresh noodles by following my recipe in my Kalguksu post.

Step 3

Chop all vegetables and meat into small cubes. Julienne cucumbers to add as garnish.

Step 4

In a non-stick frying pan, add equal amount of chunjang and oil to pan on medium/medium low heat. Stir often, cook for 7 min.

Step 5

Remove chunjang from pan. It should be easy to bunch up the cooked chunjang and remove from oil. Discard the leftover oil in pan.

Step 6

In ANOTHER pan, add 2 T oil to pan on medium heat. Sauté onions and cabbages for 10 min or more until onions become translucent.

Step 7

Remove onions and cabbages from pan and set aside. Sauté pork on med-high heat for 2-3 min in the same pan.

Step 8

Once pork is cooked, return onions, cabbages to pan. Add 1 T oil and remaining vegetables. Sauté all ingredients on med-high heat for 5 – 7 min. Veggies should still be slightly crunchy.

Step 9

Add cooked chunjang paste to pan and stir everything, making sure the paste coats the ingredients evenly.

Step 10

Stir fry for 2 min. Add 1 C water and 1 T sugar. Mix. Simmer fro 3-4 min.

Step 11

Add the cornstarch slurry and stir for 2-3 min. It's ready when sauce has thickened to a little thicker than gravy consistency. Omit this step and just reduce the sauce to make a more conentrated Gan Jjajangmyeon.

Step 12

Serve noodles topped with sauce and then some julienned cucumbers.