2015년 9월 9일 수요일

How to make Jjajangmyeon (noodles with black bean paste sauce)

Jjajangmyeon is so delicious. Most Chinese restaurants make good jjajangmyeon but some of them have hygienic issues lately. So, I decided to make this at home and tried a few internet recipes. I was disappointed at the taste of them - there was some piggy taste and they were not sweet enough even though I put a ton of sugar.



I almost accepted the reality that we could't compete against professionals. As a last attempt, I tried my 120-180 theory (maximizing flavors by cooking at 120-180 degrees) on this and the result was a home-run! I was so excited to share this with you people.

Ingredients (for 4 people)
pork                                   300g             
black bean paste                80g
onion                                 1                   
cabbage                             1 cup
sugar                                 1 tablespoon  

Note that famous recipes use 4 tablespoons of sugar for 4 portions. But, I will use only 1 Tbsp and will make this sauce still sweet. If you make this for the first time, use 2 Tbsp and cut down on it later.

1. Black bean paste also needs to be cooked at 120-180 degrees. Preheat a non-stick pan at medium-low heat for a few minutes and put black bean paste. Then, stir this occasionally for 5 minutes. Use enough oil for black bean paste to be fully submerged. After 5 minutes, the smell will change to savory from disgusting. Then, turn off the heat.



2. Cut vegetables into large cubes.


3. Make sure you use a NON non-stick pan. Use a stainless steel pot if you don't have any pan.

4. Preheat your pan (or pot) for 3 minutes and oil it.

5. Sprinkly sugar on a hot pan. By burning sugar at 120-180 degrees, we will get extra sweetness from the same amount of sugar. If you put sugar after liquid is added, you have to double the amount.
This is the same reason why a baked sweet potato is much sweeter than a steamed one.



6. Add pork when sugar turs brown.



7. Add vegetables when pork is fully cooked. Stir them well.


8. Make sure vegetables touche the pan directly at least once. By caramelizing theses more, we get more sweetness.

 
9. Add black bean paste and mix everything well.



10. You can serve this as it is. Or add some water and starch water to make the sauce thick.





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