Chunjang

Sweet bean sauce. In Korea, chunjang is most commonly used to make jajang (자장), a black gravy served with a popular noodle dish called jajangmyeon. Other common dishes with jajang sauce include jajang-bap (rice with jajang sauce) and jajang-tteok-bokki (stir-fried rice cakes with jajang sauce). Although stir-frying chunjang to make jajang is the most common use for the sauce, chunjang may also be served as an accompaniment to sliced raw onions. In most Korean-Chinese restaurants, raw onions, chunjang, and danmuji (yellow pickled radish) are the basic side dishes. Korean chunjang is similar to the Shandong-style tiánmiànjiàng, as it was first used in Incheon Chinatown, where the majority of restaurants were run by Chinese immigrants from Shandong. However, now most Korean-Chinese restaurants are run by Koreans, and chunjang has adapted to Korean tastes, as have other Korean-Chinese dishes and ingredients.