The Chinese Bolognese

Recently while perusing a restaurant menu, I noticed they had ja-ja mein, which I haven’t thought about since my childhood.

Ja-ja mein, also known as ja-jiang mein, is a Northern Chinese dish known for its ground meat sauce over noodles, blended with thinly sliced fresh cucumbers. It’s served either room temperature or cold. The ground meat is eaten by so many Chinese kids while growing up it’s considered the Chinese version of spaghetti.

Growing up in Honolulu, my mom kept our family busy with her small business making a Chinese cracker treat. We all helped her on the weekends, and often during a long day of cooking we’d order takeout for dinner. One of the popular places we went to was a tiny Northern Chinese restaurant that only made two dishes (or at least only two dishes were popular): beef soup noodles and ja-ja mein.

I remember getting a big plate of this noodle dish and eagerly mixing the cooling cucumber slices with the spicy meat sauce. The combination was amazing for my young palate. Of course, after awhile I ate so much of it that I got sick of it and when I grew up and left Hawaii, I never thought about ordering it again.

But seeing it on the menu recently got me craving for it. So I made a quick-and-easy version using canned sweet bean sauce I got in Chinatown. My meat sauce (using ground pork) wasn’t as amazing as that restaurant, probably because they cooked it for hours, but it did hit the spot. During the summer months, this is a great dish to make because of the fact it’s often served cold. What was your family’s favorite meat sauce with noodle dish?