What is Korean Chewy Noodles (Jjolmyeon, 쫄면)
Korean chewy noodles (jjolmyeon) has two meanings.
Firstly, jjolmyeon describes the chewy noodles as a cooking ingredient. It is made of wheat flour, corn starch, cooking wine and salt etc. Also, it is an accidental by-product of naengmyeon noodles.
While the discovery may have been accidental, spicy chewy noodles (also called jjolmyeon) are one of the most popular noodle dishes in Korea. These spicy chewy noodles are mixed with various fresh vegetables (e.g. cucumber, carrots and cabbage), hard boiled eggs, sweet, tangy and spicy sauce and of course, jjolmyeon – the chewy noodles.
The below jjolmyeon noodles are what I used in my recent jjolmyeon recipe. It contains 5 serving portions (1kg, 2.2 pounds) and is available for AUD $7.60 (as of June 2015). It didn’t include any sauce with it but some brands also include the spicy sauce. I found this packet in the freezer section at a Korean grocery store but if you’re in Korea, these noodles can be found in the fridge section.
Also, these jjolmyeon noodles can be used in jjolbokki (쫄볶이, Korean spicy rice cakes with chewy noodles). Jjolbokki is very similar to rabokki (ramen + tteokbokki) but instead of using ramyeon (라면, Korean instant ramen noodles), it is made with jjolmyeon noodles.
