Hello everyone, today I will teach you how to make plant-based gan jjajangmyeon. Jjajangmyeon is probably a very familiar menu to you, but some of you are unfamiliar with gan jjajangmyeon, right? Gan jjajangmyeon is a pretty popular menu in Korea, but I think it is a kind of Jajangmyeon that is not widely known in America. When I was young, when my family went to eat Korean Chinese food, my top pick choices were either jjamppong or gan jjajangmyeon. I remember that ga jjajangmyeon was about 500 won more expensive than regular jjajangmyeon at that time (I’m not sure exactly how much it is now), but the point is that it is more expensive than the regular one. The biggest difference between gan jjajangmyeon and regular jjajangmyeon is in the sauce. The regular one is a pre-made sauce and gan jjajang is stir-fried to order. It’s the hard work of the chefs and the price of fresher ingredients, I think? Another big difference is that gan jjajangmyeon is less sweet and saltier than regular jjajangmyeon.
I think I’ve shared so many recipes for jjajangmyeon over the years – traditional jjajangmyeon, vegan jjajangmyeon, and jaengban jjajangmyeon. There is also a recipe for vegan jjamppong, so if you want to give the recipe a try, you should take a look. Tangsuyuk, Korean sweet and sour pork, hasn’t been made plant-based by me yet, and there’s no kkanpunggi (spicy fried chicken) yet either, so those two recipes are going to be vegan recipes soon! 🙌🏼 If you can’t wait for my vegan recipes, I’ll just hang it below the link to the regular tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) & kkanpunggi (spicy fried chicken) recipe, so please check it out!
My orange cauliflower recipe seems to go well with this gan jjajang recipe. The vegan jjajangmyeon recipe in my cookbook is also, and it is a little different from this gan jjajang recipe. Let’s stop talking and start the recipe!
Bring a pot of water to boil to cook the noodles and chop all the veggies and ready to go. When you are done prepping the vegetables, go ahead and start cooking the noodles. You can use any of your favorite noodles, or even rice works great with this gan jjajang sauce. Cook the noodles by following the directions of the package you are using.
Add cooking oil, garlic, ginger, and green onions in a wok or a skillet. Heat the wok over high heat… Stir fry for 1 minute to infuse the flavors into the oil.
When you can smell all the beautiful aroma, add soy sauce and chunjang, black bean paste. Stir fry for 1 minute. Constantly stirring.
Add the rest of the veggies- onion, cabbage, zucchini, and mushrooms. Stir all together and keep stir-frying for 2 to 4 minutes or until the veggies are done to your taste. Stir frequently. Stir in vegetarian oyster sauce and sugar. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Remove the cooked noodles from the pot and rinse under cold water to stop cooking and get rid of the starch. Drain completely and place in a serving bowl.
Scoop the gan jjajang sauce over the cooked noodles. Top it up with some julienned cucumbers and sprinkle some gochugaru if you like! Mix well before you eat, and enjoy!!
Vegan Gan Jjajangmyeon
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
- Generous portion of fresh wheat noodles or dried wheat/udon noodles
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 5 cloves of garlic, chopped (approximately 1 1/2 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp chopped ginger
- 4 to 5 green onions, chopped (approximately 1/4 cup)
- 1 large sweet or yellow onion, cut into large chunks
- 1/4 of large or 1/2 of small green cabbage, cut into chunks
- 1 large zucchini, cut into small cubes
- 5 to 6 rehydrated or fresh shiitake, diced
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/3 cup chunjang, black bean paste (you can substitute with Doenjang or red miso)
- 2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp raw sugar
- Julienned cucumber
- Gochugaru to taste
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil to cook the noodles. When you are done prepping the vegetables, go ahead and start cooking the noodles. You can use any of your favorite noodles, or even rice works great with this gan jjajang sauce. Cook the noodles by following the directions of the package you are using.
- Heat a large wok or a skillet over high heat. Add cooking oil, garlic, ginger, and green onions. Stir fry for 1 minute to infuse the flavors into the oil.
- When you can smell all the beautiful aroma, add soy sauce and black bean paste. Stir fry for 1 minute. Constantly stirring.
- Add the rest of the veggies- onion, cabbage, zucchini, and mushrooms. Stir all together and keep stir-frying for 2 to 4 minutes or until the veggies are done to your taste. Stir frequently. Stir in vegetarian oyster sauce and sugar. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Remove the cooked noodles from the pot and rinse under cold water to stop cooking and get rid of the starch. Drain completely and place in a serving bowl.
- Scoop the gan jjajang sauce over the cooked noodles. Top it up with some julienned cucumbers, and sprinkle some gochugaru if you like! Mix well before you eat, and enjoy!!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
3 comments
Thank you so much for your work in curating and posting this recipe! Made this dish this past week and it was delicious! It was the first Korean dish I’ve ever cooked and I loved the vegetables and thought the gochugaru was a lovely touch.
I really enjoyed this vegan version and will definitely make it again!
YAY~! So happy to hear that!!