Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Ja jien mein (noodles with meat sauce)
Recipe by executive chef/owner, Khan’s Cave
Big pots full of veggies make Chef Mark Sun smile.
The restaurant business is in my family. When I was in high school, I lived with my cousin in Scotland, and he taught me how to cook. My parents were living in Hong Kong at the time, and then moved to Washington, DC, where we joined them. After working in a few kitchens in Maryland, my cousin and I decided to open our own restaurant. We thought about L.A. but it was too diverse and we weren’t sure where we could be successful. Then one day, I drove down to San Diego and found it to be very pretty. Soon after, we opened up Szechuan Mandarin in Mission Gorge.
San Diego in the 1970s was decades behind the East Coast. At the time, no one even knew how to pronounce “Szechuan.” We had a tough time trying to introduce spicy, northern Chinese cuisine to San Diego locals, and it took five or six years to get the restaurant going. However, after a few years of good press and adventurous eaters, we became busy all the time.
It was hard work. There is nothing glamorous about the restaurant business. You want to get your blood pressure up? Work in a kitchen. It’s long hours, messy, and things always break at the worst possible time.
Twenty-two years after I opened Szechuan Mandarin, I sold it. I quit because of my frustration. But after 18 months, I realized that sitting at home on a Friday night doesn’t interest me. I found out that the world isn’t any better without a restaurant, so I decided to go back into it and just learn to deal with the difficulties. I opened up Khan’s Cave, which is an Asian-fusion restaurant, and despite the economic conditions, we are doing really well.
I rarely cook at home. I like simple things, like a bowl of noodles. I don’t like sweet dishes, but I love Vietnamese and Korean dishes.
INGREDIENTS
(Serves 4)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 12 oz. ground or diced pork
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 slice of sun-dried tofu, diced (optional)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
- 2 oz sherry
- 1/4 cup soybean paste (available in Asian markets or can substitute miso paste)
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup chicken broth
- shredded cucumber and chopped scallions for garnish
HOW TO DO IT
Heat wok or skillet, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Sauté pork and onion until brown. Add tofu and cook until golden. Next add ginger, cooking wine, soybean paste, and hoisin sauce.
Continue to sauté for 2 or 3 more minutes, then add water and chicken broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about a quarter of the original volume.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the noodles of your choice. When the sauce is finished, cover noodles and garnish with cucumber and scallions.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Ja jien mein (noodles with meat sauce)
Recipe by executive chef/owner, Khan’s Cave
Ja jien mein (noodles with meat sauce)
Recipe by executive chef/owner, Khan’s Cave
Big pots full of veggies make Chef Mark Sun smile.
The restaurant business is in my family. When I was in high school, I lived with my cousin in Scotland, and he taught me how to cook. My parents were living in Hong Kong at the time, and then moved to Washington, DC, where we joined them. After working in a few kitchens in Maryland, my cousin and I decided to open our own restaurant. We thought about L.A. but it was too diverse and we weren’t sure where we could be successful. Then one day, I drove down to San Diego and found it to be very pretty. Soon after, we opened up Szechuan Mandarin in Mission Gorge.
San Diego in the 1970s was decades behind the East Coast. At the time, no one even knew how to pronounce “Szechuan.” We had a tough time trying to introduce spicy, northern Chinese cuisine to San Diego locals, and it took five or six years to get the restaurant going. However, after a few years of good press and adventurous eaters, we became busy all the time.
It was hard work. There is nothing glamorous about the restaurant business. You want to get your blood pressure up? Work in a kitchen. It’s long hours, messy, and things always break at the worst possible time.
Twenty-two years after I opened Szechuan Mandarin, I sold it. I quit because of my frustration. But after 18 months, I realized that sitting at home on a Friday night doesn’t interest me. I found out that the world isn’t any better without a restaurant, so I decided to go back into it and just learn to deal with the difficulties. I opened up Khan’s Cave, which is an Asian-fusion restaurant, and despite the economic conditions, we are doing really well.
I rarely cook at home. I like simple things, like a bowl of noodles. I don’t like sweet dishes, but I love Vietnamese and Korean dishes.
INGREDIENTS
(Serves 4)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 12 oz. ground or diced pork
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 slice of sun-dried tofu, diced (optional)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
- 2 oz sherry
- 1/4 cup soybean paste (available in Asian markets or can substitute miso paste)
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup chicken broth
- shredded cucumber and chopped scallions for garnish
HOW TO DO IT
Heat wok or skillet, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Sauté pork and onion until brown. Add tofu and cook until golden. Next add ginger, cooking wine, soybean paste, and hoisin sauce.
Continue to sauté for 2 or 3 more minutes, then add water and chicken broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about a quarter of the original volume.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the noodles of your choice. When the sauce is finished, cover noodles and garnish with cucumber and scallions.
Comments