Tag Archives: black bean paste

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You might not be able to guess this- but I really like metal genre. Alexa and I have talked about music before (making best of lists for 2014, talking about our fav artists, or the concerts we’ve been to) and you would think we were all about mello music and pop-electronica. And you would be right. But I am still a sucker for some metal. In high school you would more likely be listening to Visual Kei bands and nerdy metal bands. If you are sitting here thinking what is nerd metal? And visual what?! Well come along friends and let me give you a small history.

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First off Visual Kei is a Japanese genre, that has less to do what the music sounds like and more about what the bands look like. The genre kind-of popped up in the 80s and was heavily influenced by 80s hair metal. The early music was influenced by glam rock, heavy metal, and punk music. I always thought the music was more pleasant than some of the “goth” bands in the states, leading to some of my favorites like Due Le Quartz, Vidoll, Dir en grey, MUCC, cali≠gari, and deadman. Hell, I have even been lucky enough to see some visual kei groups when they’ve toured the USA. I’ve seen +DéspairsRay+, MUCC, and L’arc~en~ciel (who were one of the early Visual Kei bands, who became more mainstream pop.) But like most genres they evolve and it became harder and harder to find groups that sounded different from one another. Then the genre branched off to Oshare Kei which sounded too much like the pop-punk movement in the states. I think I largely loved how feminine the genre was. I find lots of Americans/Westerns have the hardest time accepting the feminine aspects of the genre as men wear lots of make up, have tiny figures, and sometimes even wear dresses.

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Now what am I talking about with nerdy metal? Ever heard of the genre math rock? According to wikipedia it’s “Math rock is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatures, angular melodies, and extended, often dissonant, chords.” (If you want to check out Math Rock try listening to toe, Maps and Atlases, Zazen Boys, Q and Not U, and Acidman) Well, to me nerdy metal isn’t a real genre, just one that I use. But it is similar to math rock- it is characterized by the complexity of the music. Mostly it is for all the prog-alternative metal groups that were less goth and more about 20 minute guitar solos. I mean, just look at all these subgenres of metal on wikipedia. I can’t even begin! I mean give me Sonata Arctica, DragonForce, and Dream Theater any day.

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So what am I getting at? Well, when I saw the prompt of make the most Goth meal ever, it just made me think of my days in college and going to see Gwar. They have been listed at the third nerdiest metal groups, and you probably know them from the Beavis and Butthead video game where you go around town trying to get to the Gwar concert. I just remember freshman year, sitting around and news came out that Gwar was playing that night. My friend Kelli was super pumped but it was all sold out. So the next year we went, and it was awesome.

Truthfully, I am not a huge fan of Gwar’s music. I could take it or leave it, except some random songs here and there. But given the chance to see full grown men paint abs on their beer bellies, chop the head off of political figures and other crude jokes. What you should expect from a Gwar concert is a lot of multicolor liquids flying at you and mosh pits. I think people are usually surprised that I love going to Gwar concerts since I like dressing girly, but there is such stage performance that I can never say no. I’ve been to three concerts, every year in college since that missed Freshman year concert.

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One of the most notable concerts was when they paired Gwar with Cradle of Filth. I’ve dabbled with Cradle of Filth, and most people probably know them from the IT Crowd. I think “It sounds horrible but it’s actually quite beautiful” is a great way to describe them. It was an interesting mix of crowds. Gwar is a little more gritty and older crowd, while Cradle of Filth had younger goth kids wearing pleather. It was pretty easy to tell who came for which bands. Gwar goers wore white t-shirts, Cradle of Filthers wore black.

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Perhaps I am extra nostagic of my Gwar concert going days since I always went with my rad friends- Kelli and John. The two are now happily married and are expecting a cute little dude. Do you think they make Gwar onesies?

Okay so let’s talk about my most metal dark dish. Well, I love chinese fermented black beans. Douchi is pretty much the first fermented soy beans, and you’ve probably eaten it before with Chinese take out with any of their “black bean” dishes. I’ve written in detail about douchi, which can be called many different things depending on the country. I’ve made a recipe for Jajangmyeon, which is a Korean dish. I mean it is pretty dark, but I wanted to do something a little different for vegan mofo.

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So I’ve tried to make a stir-fry with these black bean paste, with some yummy results. I sautéed some vegan abalone, eggplant, and broccoli. Don’t worry guys, you can hardly see the broccoli in all that dark sauce. And I paired it all off with some black rice, which is so black it makes the rest of the dish look brown.

Funny thing is that after writing this post, I kind-of remembered why I’ve moved away from heavier music. One is that they can be misogynist, or super dude heavy (mean, there are lots of not so subtle phallic displays at a Gwar concert) but mostly it is because my husband HATES hard music. I was listening to Due Le Quartz while making dinner, and midway through he just asks “what the fuck are you listening to?!” Well, I left some videos below with some viewer warning when needed if you want to listen to some music of some the bands listed above.

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jajangmyeon1 So the other day I was making Jajangmyeon and went into my blog archives for the recipe that I posted almost a year ago. To my horror, the instructions were TERRIBLE! I mean so bad that I was embarrassed to keep the recipe up. The image was broken, and the original photo was terrible. I wouldn’t think so much improvement with my posts would happen in such a short amount of time. But Jajangmyeon is one of my favorite dishes, and I just had to keep the world in the loop of this yummy dish. I originally grew up eating this because of my Aunt Hannah. She is Korean immigrant who married into my family. She would bring packages that looked like ramen that she called “Black Spaghetti.” She taught me her special way of cooking them. If I was in an Asian food market I would snatch up as many as I could. When I went to college in Philadelphia I had access to Korean restaurants. I became obsessed with finding one that would serve these black bean noodles. When I finally found one, I became sold on fresh jajangmyeon. They were pricey, so I learned how to make the noodles myself. Since I had it fresh, I found out those dinky ramen packets were pretty terrible. Continue reading


I first was exposed to it when I was little. My Aunt Hannah, who is Korean, brought over some “black spaghetti,” as she called it. The black spaghetti looked like packets of ramen, but instead of a soup, it was drained and covered in a sauce. I remember her teaching me the “best” way of cooking it, and going to the local Asian Market snatching them up. Fast forward to 2007. I watched the Korean Drama Coffee Prince. The first episode featured a Jjajangmyeon eat off, and dawned on me what my “black spaghetti” really was.

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At the time, there weren’t many online sources for the dish and when checking out local Korean restaurant, none actually had the dish on their menu. The reason is that Jajangmyeon is based on a Chinese dish, Zhaziangmian. The original Zhaziangmian dish uses hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and various bean pastes to get the black sauce. The Korean version uses chunjang, which is a black bean sauce that is much sweeter than it’s Chinese counterpart. There are many differences, but today, you are likely to see Jajangmyeon at a Chinese restaurant in Korea. Think of it a little bit like General Tso in the US, distinctly American in it’s own right but you won’t find it anywhere other than a Chinese food shop.

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Today we are going to talk about a little story. This story is about the soy bean. Sure you’ve been told that it is one of most versatile ingredients in the world. Sadly, most Americans and Westerners have no clue how much is made with soy. Sure there is soy milk, tofu, soy ice cream, soy beef patties, and miso, but how much more can be made from a bean?

Take away refrigerators, and humans get pretty creative with how to save their foods. Just think about how in the west we have so many different variations of milk. There is yogurt, cremes, cheeses, and much more. Even with cheese, there are so many different flavors and textures. You have a mild cheese like mozzarella that is fresh and no fermentation. Then you have fermented cheeses like swiss that has a completely different texture, smell, and taste. You can even get a totally different cheese with a different strain of bacteria, like blue cheese. The same thing can be said about soy. Do a few things to the beans, and you can get lots of different results. Tofu is kind-of similar to mozzarella, fresh and soft. Miso is fermented and therefore has a drastically different pungent taste. So what is the “blue cheese” of soy? Surely it must be douchi.

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Douchi looks like a raisin, but it is simply a fermented old soy bean. Even though soy bean’s color can be black, any variety is used for this food. Douchi is the earliest form of soy bean fermentation known to man. Older than miso. Douchi was found in a tomb dating all the way back to 165 BCE.

As I am talking about these wrinkly beans, you might be wondering what these things taste like. If you ever gotten black bean chicken on at a Chinese food take out, you tasted douchi. There is a distinct taste to the douchi beans that are salty, but can not be replaced. Sort of like how soy sauce simply can’t be replaced with salt.

The steps for making the paste require the soy beans to be soaked, steamed, and inculcate with soy koji, which is used for miso. The beans mold over, turning green. The mold is rinsed off to remove some bitter flavors, though this step can be skipped. The soy beans are then placed in a brine for six months. The end result are “black beans.” They can be eaten alone as a snack, or be made into a paste.

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“Black Bean” Paste

Douchi is commonly made into a paste. Anyone who takes a dip into “asian cooking” can go crazy from all the new pastes and sauces that are needs for a recipe. Add “Black Bean” Paste to the list now. This is where things get confusing. Many culture have different names for all their pastes, and many will swear that their paste is different than others. Just think of the American biscuit. A woman from the south will say biscuits from the north just aren’t right.

The basic recipe for “Black Bean” Paste is to saute douchi in a pan with broth, water, and garlic. Sometimes oil, soy sauce, and starch are added for flavor and texture. This sauce or paste is becoming easier to find in supermarkets, but are overpriced and small.

Douchi is pretty popular in Korean food because of the rise in popularity of Jajangmyeon. Koreans call their paste chunjang. Many swear it isn’t the same as the Chinese counterpart. What is the difference? Honestly caramel. Yes, Koreans like their savory foods sweet. So if you aren’t satisfied with douchi you bought add some sugar or some other sweetener.

REMEMBER- if you are buying pre-made “Black Bean” Paste check the ingredients! If you are vegetarian or vegan, there may be caramel (milk guise) or chicken stock in the paste!

COOKING

There are a few ways to use black bean paste in cooking. It is used more as a seasoning, as it is too salty to eat on it’s own. Just imagine eating a spoonful of miso? (alright I’ve been known to lick the spoon) Traditionally, you can toss a tablespoon or two in a stir fry, though you may want to omit any soy sauce or salt. It is also common to use to on different steamed meats, such as ribs or fishes. And one of the most popular dishes is Jajangmyeon, noodles slathered in black bean paste.

But truth is the sky is the limit. Maybe make dumplings with chopped veggies covered in some black bean sauce. Maybe you could try making a BBQ sauce out the paste. Heck, they have been even used in ice cream! Play around and be daring. Think of the paste a little bit like “soy sauce” in the flavor and go from there. I am sure you will blow all your friends away.

RECIPES

Jajangmyeon
Vegan Black Bean Abalone Stir-fry