What noodles are they eating in Crash Landing on You?

Crash Landing on You is a very popular k-drama that began airing on Korean television and streaming online in December of 2019. The show was praised for its depiction of the North Korean people, humanizing their lives and telling viewers that they weren’t all that different than the South.

Yoon Se-Ri (Son Ye-Jin) is a South Korean heiress to a conglomerate family where she spars with her two brothers over business affairs. On the eve of her taking over the family’s corporate duties, Se-Ri experiences a paragliding accident, caused by strong winds that blow her into crash landing in North Korea.

There, Se-Ri meets Ri Jeong-Hyeok (Hyun-Bin), a North Korean military officer who decides to help her return home. However, the border between North and South Korea is one of the most militarized borders in the world. Getting back across poses many challenges.

In the second episode, though, we see Ri Jeong-Hyeok preparing noodles by hand for his uninvited guest, Se-Ri. The noodles are called Janchi-guksu (잔치국수), which translates as banquet noodles.

What is janchi-guksu?

Janchi guksu is a very traditional noodle soup that dates back many generations in Korean cuisine. The noodles symbolize longevity and long life in Korean culture and are often served during special occasions like weddings and birthday celebrations. But it’s also a great tasting family meal that’s cheap and easy to make any time.

This dish is made with thin noodles—typically, wheat or rice noodles—and served in a broth with sliced vegetables thrown on top.

The broth’s flavor comes from dried anchovies, kelp, and the chef’s chosen vegetables, like radish, onion, shiitake mushrooms, or green onions. Some people might use other broths instead, like beef, vegetable, or chicken.

If you lack the time or ingredients, you can even use anchovy broth tablets to shortcut your way into the meal.

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The garnishes placed on top of the noodles are often thin slices of fried egg, zucchini, cucumber, kimchi, seaweed, mushrooms, carrots, and other vegetables.

There are always a ton of different ways to make the same dish. One optional topping is a spicy sauce made from green and red chillies, green onion, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, sesame seed, and sesame oil.

Another option, as seen in the show, is to make your own noodles, which people tend to say taste so much better than packaged noodles.

Do homemade noodles taste better?

In Crash Landing on You, Ri Jeong-Hyeok uses a manual noodle press to extrude his noodles from the dough. In a country that experiences power outages, a manual press for noodle-making is the ideal solution. You can find these online as a tabletop machine, as seen in the show, or a handheld versions too.

Phillips makes an electric noodle maker that automatically kneads and extrudes noodles in just minutes. All you do is add the ingredients into the container.

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Automatic noodle maker kneads and extrudes 2-3 servings of fresh noodles in just 18 minutes.

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When using a noodle maker, you can choose any type of noodle you want: wheat, buckwheat, amaranth, rice, and so on. You are in control. You can even adjust how much salt is added too!

When making noodles yourself you are using fresher ingredients. This translates into a better tasting noodle. You can use organic products, low-sodium, gluten-free flour; whatever you want.

The taste, texture, and versatility of making your own noodles adds a fun factor that you don’t get with pre-packaged noodles. Plus, you can make the noodles more nutritious by using better ingredients, which is even more awesome.