The Jajangmyeon Challenge

Living in the United States for a long time tends to change one's appetite. It's unlikely that many households here have three square meals a day consisting of rice, soup, a few side dishes, and kimchi in the traditional Korean style. Breakfast usually involves coffee, bread, and fruit, and it's common to opt for something other than rice for lunch. Even when dining out, there's often no insistence on Korean food; instead, people enjoy Italian or Chinese cuisine without much resistance, relishing the different atmosphere and flavors.

 

To the point where I wouldn't even notice if kimchi was missing from a meal, I hardly ever crave the pickled fish or traditional Korean dishes I grew up with. While I sometimes reminisce about the fresh sashimi I enjoyed on the East Coast during my childhood, there's been no such luck finding it in New Jersey, so I've long given up on that. However, there are times when I crave Jajangmyeon intensely. Why does a simple dish like Jajangmyeon come to mind? Perhaps it's because it's a dish associated with special occasions like graduation or birthdays. When good things happen, it's only natural for memories associated with those occasions to resurface from the depths of one's mind.

 

While it's possible to satisfy this craving by visiting a Korean-Chinese restaurant in Koreatown for a reasonably priced bowl of Jajangmyeon, the hassle of driving such a distance just for a single meal often outweighs the desire. Even when I've tried Jajangmyeon at Chinese restaurants in New Jersey, the taste is different from what I remember enjoying in Korea. It's a far cry from the flavors of the Jajangmyeon I used to occasionally indulge in at Chinese restaurants back in my hometown.

 

So, I decided to try making Jajangmyeon myself, the Korean-style Chinese dish made by stir-frying vegetables and pork with black bean paste and then mixing it with noodles. After comparing several recipes I found online and watching a few YouTube videos, I felt like making Jajangmyeon was not as daunting a task as I initially thought.

 

After finalizing my strategy, I asked my wife to buy the ingredients for making Jajangmyeon. The ingredients were quite simple: black bean paste, cabbage, onions, pork, carrots (optional), green onions, garlic (optional), sugar, soy sauce, starch, noodles (can be replaced with ramen noodles), cooking oil, zucchini (optional), cucumber (for garnish, optional). Most of the ingredients were already in the refrigerator, so all I needed was the black bean paste to complete the preparation.

 

The cooking method turned out to be unexpectedly simple as well. First, fry the black bean paste in cooking oil. Then, sauté the green onions in a large frying pan to release their flavor. Add the sliced pork and cook until half done. Then, add vegetables such as onions and cabbage and continue to stir-fry. Once the vegetables are cooked to your liking, add the fried black bean paste and mix well. Add salt, soy sauce, and sugar to taste. Add water and bring to a boil. Gradually add dissolved starch to adjust the thickness. Finally, it's ready.

 

However, achieving the right balance proved to be challenging. Strictly adhering to the quantities of ingredients specified in the recipe can lead to failure. For novice cooks like me, it's difficult to adjust the quantities of ingredients and seasoning based on overall harmony and occasionally taste testing to adjust the amount of soy sauce or water is a challenge. Care must be taken to avoid pouring too much soy sauce onto the spoon and spilling it all over, which could lead to not being able to eat it and having to discard it.

 

When I tried the Jajangmyeon soaked in rice for the first time, it tasted excellent. Encouraged by this success, I woke up early one Sunday morning and made a pot of Jajang sauce, which I gave to my nearby friend, P. He liked it so much that he asked me to make another pot the following Sunday. Encouraged by his words, I started making and eating Jajangmyeon in earnest at home. I experimented with slightly different ingredient preparations, added more soy sauce, adjusted the cooking time, and so on... Thus began the process of making authentic Jajangmyeon.

 

Just a few days ago, I saw cucumbers in the refrigerator, so I made Jajang sauce and boiled ramen noodles, topped with cucumber shavings, to make Jajangmyeon. When I offered it to my wife, she said it was delicious and asked me to make it for her once a week. With nothing to do after retiring, maybe I should consider opening a Jajangmyeon restaurant? Since there's squid in the refrigerator, I might as well try making Samseon(Three seafood) Jajangmyeon and consider it.

 

(2019년 3월 21일)