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So, after finally finding someone to try “it” with me….I went to Man San, which is on 2851 W.Olympic in Koreatown. It is an old school Korean restaurant where the waitresses are encouraging by saying things like “it gives you stamina” and “good for strength,” as you make an order. But the only reason to even go there is to have fresh seafood, so forget the bbq, shrimp tempura, or anything else that’s been dead for more than a hour…and dive into something worth 25 bucks a sacrifice.

We basically had some Sannakji…which is…

The flavor was very neutral and without a hint fishiness. It actually tasted like fatty tuna to me, if you would believe it. I don’t think it was as stimulating as some people led me to believe, but it was rather bizarre to see the chopped up arms play dead..and then all of sudden pulsate when you poke at it. It did taste good with the soy sauce and wasabi, and soju…of course.

The arms are actually hard to pluck off the plate at times because the surface is easier for the suction cups to hold onto, but that’s why it’s a good dish to kill time with. Time kind of flies when you’re fishing for arms and sipping on alcohol, talking to a fellow food adverturess.

I just wish we had more dipping sauces to play with.

After making it a numerous times, I think I managed to figure out the easiest way of making it. This recipe is for two people…

Ingredients:

• 1 whole white onion - med size - chopped up.
• 1 whole Korean squash - med size- peeled and chopped up.
• 1/2 lb of ground pork.
• Soy sauce
• 3 tbsp of roasted black bean paste
• 1/3 cup of water

• 1 tbsp of flour
• water
• Pre-made ja jang myun noodles.

—

Before you start the prepration…boil some water for the noodles so by the time the sauce is ready, you can cook it.

For the sauce, start off by oiling a wok/deep sauce pan with some vegetable oil. After the pan gets hot, brown the ground pork in it. When the ground pork is cooked, add the chopped onions and squash. Splash two generous blots of soy sauce on top and stir it all around. When the vegetables start to cook, they’ll build up a soup of moisture. When you see that happening, add 3 big tbsp of roasted black bean paste on top and stir it in.

Next, add 1/3 of a cup of water into the pan and stir it all around. With the 1 tbsp of flour, put it into a small bowl with some water and stir it around so it gets milky. Add this thickener into the ja jang myun sauce and stir it all around.

The sauce should not take very long to cook so by the time you’re finish with adding the ingredients, start cooking the noodles.

Usually you can tell the noodles are done when they float to the top. When you see this, pour the hot water into a strainer so you can extract the noodles.

Divide the noodles into two portions, add the sauce on top of the two servings….and enjoy with some yellow pickled daikon radishes.

that’s all!