Monday, April 12, 2010

Ja-Ja Mein Recipe

Copyright 2010 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
6 oz. ground pork
1 can sweet bean sauce (6 oz.)
1 onion, diced
1 cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
2 stalks of green onion, thinly chopped (mostly white section, about 1/4 cup)
8 oz. dried noodles (preferably wheat, but rice noodles is OK)
1 t white pepper
1 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 T hot chili sauce (adjust to your taste)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2-3 T Canola oil

Marinate the ground pork with the ground white pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat and then add onion and green onion (scallions) for about 2 to 3 minutes to soften the onion. Then add pork and cook until brown, breaking up the meat into little pieces. When pork looks fully cooked, add sweet bean sauce, chicken broth and chili. Lower heat to simmer and cook cover for another 15 minutes to let the sauce thicken. Taste to see if you need to adjust hot sauce level or add more soy sauce. When done, remove from heat and let cool.

Slice cucumber to very thin pieces.

In a pot, boil water and cook noodles per package instructions. When done, place noodles into two separate bowls and then divide sauce and cucumber and place on top. When ready to eat, mix everything together and dig in.

Makes 2 servings. Pair with a glass of sake.

TIP: The sweet bean sauce may be hard to find. Look for it with other bean sauce that is used for Szechuan cooking. If you still can’t find it, I’ve heard some people use miso paste as a replacement. (If using miso paste, you might not need to use 6 ounces but maybe more like 2-3 tablespoons.)

BUCK THE WHEAT: Most recipes I've found for ja-ja mein recommends wheat noodles. In Chinatown stores, it's hard to find wheat noodles used for Northern Chinese dishes. Many of them sell Japanese soba noodles, which works just as fine.

9 comments:

Chris C said...

I think I just found something to do for tomorrow's lunch! Thanks :-)

Mrs. L said...

I think this is something my husband will love...especially if I serve it to him with some sake :)

Cookie said...

I think I remember eating something like this as a kid. It looks yummy!

Hungry Dog said...

How interesting. I don't remember having this but then again I'm only half chinese! Yours looks really good.

Cocina Savant said...

I have been wondering what the next purchase I would make from my neighborhood Asian market would be. Now it sounds like sweet bean sauce. Excellent recipe, glad I found your page.

FoodTherapy4Me said...

One of my favorites...Korean Ja Jang Myun!!!!!!!

http://foodtherapy4me.blogspot.com/2010/02/its-more-than-just-meal.html

foodhoe said...

I've had that before and am craving it now! what kind of nooodles did you use, those look like saimin?

Single Guy Ben said...

Foodhoe, I did end up using soba noodles, which seemed to match really well with the meaty sauce. Next time I'm in Hawaii I'm going to find that little restaurant again and see what noodles they use because I can't remember. I told my mom about this post and she says the restaurant is still there but she hasn't gone in years (and she thinks they changed management) so me talking about it made her want to go look for it! :)

Elana said...

I had never used a wok before, but I recently bought one from a restaurant equipment store online and I want to cook EVERYTHING in it. This looks amazing and i can't wait for dinner tonight