Before World War II Takashina Kanshou (高階貫勝) visited Manchukuo, now Northeast China, and ate Zhajiangmian. In 1945 he returned to his hometown in Morioka and brought the dish with him. He recreated the miso paste many times on his return and incorporated the opinions of his customers to create a taste that was popular with the locals of Morioka. It eventually evolved into its own unique dish that is now a specialty of Morioka with many restaurants and izakayas offering it.[1][2][3]
Overview
Morioka jajamen uses a thin udon noodle. It is served with a scoop of meat miso which is a combination of minced pork, onion, dried shitake mushrooms, water, vegetable oil, sake, garlic, ginger, miso, mentsuyu, sugar, black ground sesame, and sesame oil. It is then garnished with cucumber, spring onions, and ginger. After mixing the dish vinegar, chilli oil, or garlic can be added to taste.[4][5]
Before mixing
After mixing
Chitantan
Near the completion of the dish, the eater may decide to turn it into Chitantan (Japanese: チータンタン). With the remaining sauce and a few noodles, a raw egg is cracked into the bowl. Boiling water is added to cook the egg and mix with the remaining sauce. Additional meat miso or condiments can be added to taste.[6][7][8]
Zhajiangmian (traditional Chinese: 炸醬麵; simplified Chinese: 炸酱面; pinyin: zhájiàngmiàn; lit. 'fried sauce noodles') is the inspiration for Morioka jajamen, but has many differences. While Morioka jajamen is a very uniform dish, zhajiangmian has many varieties. The type of noodles can be varied depending on region.[10] As well the main sauce used differs from the Japanese miso base and instead uses sweet bean sauce.[11][12]
Korea also has their own unique variant of zhajiangmian called jajangmyeon (자장면).