This Nongshim Spicy Zha Wang is a spicy take on jajangmyeon, a Chinese Korean noodle dish topped with a thick sauce of chunjang, diced pork and vegetables.
The package contained a dehydrated noodle cake along with three packets each containing a black bean soup base, spicy sauce (chilli oil) and flakes (onion, cabbage and peas). The noodles are cooked at high temperature (200°C) and made with kept powder to give them a chewy texture.
The noodles are ready after cooking the noodles and flakes for 3.5 minutes, then draining all but 4 tablespoons of the cooking water, before adding the soup and sauce packets and mixing thoroughly.
These noodles have a sharp, pungent aroma of black bean paste, which came through with a hint of sweetness that’s promptly aborted by the painful mouth-burning chilli oil. As the spiciness hits so early in the bite, masking the promising chajang sauce base, we’re left to enjoy the chewy texture of the noodles that carry the sauce remarkably well. Given the positives in the flavour of the sauce and the texture of the noodles, we’d be keen to try the original version that’s sold without the chilli oil.
This Nongshim Spicy Zha Wang contained 140 g. It was produced in South Korea and received as a gift from friends in Sydney, Australia in 2019.