Frying the black bean paste
1/4 cup black bean paste aka chunjang (85g)
1/4 cup neutral oil (55g)
For the sauce
2 cups water
1/4 cup fried black bean paste (85g)
1/2 tablespoon organic cane sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon mushroom seasoning
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Vegetables & protein
1/4 medium carrot (60g) , diced
1/4 small head green cabbage or savoy cabbage (110g) , diced
1/2 medium zucchini (80g) , diced
1 small yukon gold (80g) , diced
3 shiitake mushrooms (50g) , stems removed & diced
110 g impossible burger or beyond burger or diced extra firm tofu
For stir frying
2 tablespoons neutral oil
1 teaspoon gochugaru aka Korean red pepper powder (fine or coarse ground)
1 teaspoon minced ginger
Noodles
2 servings store bought fresh udon/jjajangmyeon or kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) (440g)
Garnish
Julienned cucumbers
In a nonstick pan, heat up black bean paste and neutral oil until the oil starts to sizzle. Lower the heat and fry the black bean paste for 3-5 minutes while stirring occasionally. Be careful not to burn the black bean paste. Turn off the heat and set aside. This step gets rid of the bitter and pungent taste of the black bean paste and gives it a nice roasted flavour.
In a liquid measuring cup or bowl, whisk together water, sugar, cornstarch, mushroom seasoning, all of the fried black bean paste (without the oil), and black pepper. Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick pan on high heat. You can reuse the leftover oil from frying the black bean paste. Add your protein of choice and sauté until lightly golden. If you’re using a ground vegan mock meat, use a spatula to break it down into a crumble. If you’re using tofu, season it to taste with salt and pepper.
Once the protein is lightly browned, add mushrooms. Sauté mushrooms until golden
Lower the heat and move the protein and mushrooms off to one side of the pan, then add 1 tablespoon of oil and minced ginger to the other side. Let the ginger infuse into the oil for about 30 seconds, then add gochugaru and let the gochugaru infuse into the oil for 5-10 seconds. Add carrots, cabbage, potato and zucchini and stir fry everything together for about 2 minutes.
Stir the sauce mixture thoroughly and pour into the pan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Stir the sauce until all the clumps of black bean paste have dissolved. Simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t burn or stick to the pan. If your sauce looks too dry, you can add an extra ¼ cup of water to loosen it up.
While the sauce is simmering, prepare the noodles following the package instructions. Once the noodles are cooked through, rinse the noodles under water to stop them from cooking and to rinse off any starches, then drain off all the excess water.
Plate the noodles into a bowl and pour the sauce over the noodles. Serve immediately. Garnish with julienned cucumbers and sesame seeds if you’d like. Mix the noodles and sauce together with chopsticks and enjoy!