There are many versions of Zhajiang noodles in the eateries and restaurants, depending on which locality you are looking at. In restaurants featuring food from China, these noodles are topped with a blacker and perhaps oilier versions of bean paste minced pork and tofu cooked with dark soy sauce. This is the original version of ‘fried sauce noodle’ from which the other variations were derived. The Taiwanese version is ‘lighter’, with less oil and without the dark sauce (hence the lighter shade of brown). The Korean dish of Jajangmyeon uses fermented black soybean paste which is sweeter than both Chinese versions.

Read more