Jajangmyeon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Jajangmyeon | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||
| Korean name | ||||||||
|
Jajangmyeon (also spelled jjajangmyeon) is a Korean dish, derived from the Chinese dish zhajiang mian. It consists of wheat noodles topped with a thick sauce made of chunjang (a salty black soybean paste), diced meat and vegetables, and sometimes also seafood. Jajang (also spelled jjajang), name of the sauce, is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters 炸醬, which literally means "fried sauce." Myeon (also spelled myun) means "noodle."
Contents |
[edit] Ingredients
[edit] Noodles
Jajangmyeon uses thick noodles made from white wheat flour.
[edit] Sauce
The sauce is made with black bean paste, called chunjang (hangul: 춘장; hanja: 春醬), to which are added sauteed diced onion, zucchini, and ground meat (either beef or pork) or chopped seafood. When cooking the sauce, cornstarch is typically added to give it a thick consistency and it is served hot over noodles. The paste, which is made from roasted soybeans, is called chunjang (literally "spring paste") when unheated, while the heated sauce (containing vegetables and meat or seafood) is called jajang (literally "fried sauce").
[edit] Variations
Variations of the jajangmyeon dish include ganjajangmyeon (간자장면) which is jajangmyeon served with the noodles and fried sauce as opposed to boiled sauce in ordinary jajangmyeon, separately in different bowls, and samseon jajangmyeon (삼선자장면), which incorporates seafood such as squid, shrimp, sea cucumber, and others (but never fish). Samseon ganjajangmyeon (삼선간자장면) consists of noodles served with sauce containing seafood on the side.
In everyday speech, Koreans sometimes omit the syllable myeon and refer to the aforementioned dishes, in shorthand manner, as jajang (자장), ganjajang (간자장), samsun jajang (삼선자장), or samsun ganjajang (삼선간자장).
Another common dish using this jajang sauce is jajangbap (자장밥), which consists of jajang sauce served over cooked rice. Usually Koreans like it when they put jajang sauce over bokeumbap (볶음밥) or fried rice.
A common accompaniment is a side dish of danmuji (yellow pickled daikon).
[edit] History
Jajangmyeon is originated from a Chinese dish, but the version familiar to Koreans is usually only found in Chinese restaurants in Korea or those serving Korean customers. This dish is also available in other countries where there is a large Korean population.
In China (or at least in the Beijing region), authentic jajangmyeon can be found, prepared with a different sauce and ground pork rather than seafood. The name of this Chinese dish is zhajiangmian (炸醬麵, literally "fried sauce noodles"). Although spelled differently, the pronunciation of the name of the Chinese dish is nearly identical to that of its Korean counterpart. Despite the similar ingredients, due to its thick sauce, jajangmyeon looks darker and has a different taste than the original, zhajiangmian.
[edit] Spelling variations
The first syllable of jajangmyeon is sometimes spelled with the hangul syllabic block 짜 (jja). The syllable 자 (ja), however, is the correct one, as 짜 is only used in indigenous Korean words that are not of Chinese origin, as ja/zhà (炸) is.
[edit] Cultural trivia
- In Korea, singles eat jajangmyeon on Black Day. The noodles are a comfort food for those who have no significant others.
- Jajangmyeon is known as an inexpensive noodle dish that can be delivered for free in many places around South Korea. It costs around 3,500 won (approximately US$3.50).
- A double serving of jajangmyeon in a single bowl is called jajang gop-ppae-gi (자장 곱빼기).
- A Korean man Kim Jae-hyun is popular for eating only jajangmyeon for five years and is a common symbol of jajangmyeon all over Korea. He is still alive at 64 years old and accomplished this feat in 1970-1975. Se-Young Lee from Seoul was known to have beat this feat by 2 years and 6 months, finally giving up in 2005.
- In television animation Pucca, heroine Pucca is mania of jajangmyeon. She is also a daughter of three Chinese noodle house owners, who serve jajangmyeon as a main dish of their restaurants.
[edit] See also
