As I guy who cooks, I take special pride when I make something that makes both my children clean their plate. No, I'm not referring to kid-friendly cliches like macaroni and cheese or pasta with some butter and parmesan on it (although, I must admit, I've resorted to that on occasion), but rather something I make that's unusual, tasty, and enjoyed by everyone, adults and kids alike. This is not to say that I'm not often sorely disappointed by my culinary adventures with children. To say that most experiments end badly is an understatement, and for some reason I seem to remain naively hopeful that everything I make will be appreciated by the small people in our house.

Anyhow, this Saturday, in honor of the Lunar New Year, I decided to make something semi-authentically Chinese for dinner, and settled upon the northern Chinese dish Zhajiang Mian, which is essentially ground meat (pork, usually) braised with a fermented bean paste and served over noodles. Kind of like spaghetti bolognese, but different. "Chinese spaghetti", if you will. I knew the noodle part would of course go over well, but decided to take the leap into the unknown with the rest of the dish and serve it up for appoval. In short, it was a big hit. Both the 5-year-old and 3-year-old cleaned their plates, and my son even asked for more. Success! (The image above isn't of my dish—I ripped it off from Wikipedia—but mine looked just like that, minus the nice place setting and artfully arranged cucumber. Relax, it's a public domain photo...)

In honor of this auspicious occasion, as well as the Year of th Ox, I present my recipe, cobbled together from Internet sources, my imagination, and whatever we had on hand. Enjoy!

Note: In Marin, you can pick all of the hard-to-find Asian ingredients at the little Asian Market on Mary Street in San Rafael, just around the corner from Whole Foods. While not as cheap or extensive in selection as the Chinese markets in San Francisco or 99 Ranch, they still have tons of cool stuff for which you'll pay a fraction of the price they charge at the supermarket. I always buy my Asian staples like soy sauce and sesame oil there.

Zhajiang Mian, Marin Daddy Style

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground meat (Pork is traditional, but I used ground turkey because I bought some at Trader Joe's earlier in the week, and it has a similar texture; feel free to use beef or chicken or goat or walrus or whatever you like)
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 9 oz. package Azumaya wide noodles (You could substitute 1lb. dry noodles like fettucine, and there's probably a more proper Asian product I could have used; this is what they had as Safeway)
• 6 green onions, finely chopped, both white and green parts
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 T hoisin sauce (most of the recipes I found called for a combination of brown bean sauce and hoisin; I didn't have any brown bean sauce so I used hoisin only)
• 1 T Xiao shing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 T dark soy sauce
• 1/2 t sesame oil
• 1 c water or chicken broth
• Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium high heat. Add meat and cook until brown. Remove meat from pan and add garlic and green onions; stir fry until lightly browned, about one minute. Return meat to pan and mix with onions and garlic. Add wine and cook for about a minute, letting wine evaporate, then add hoisin sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and water. Stir to combine, then add salt, pepper, and sugar. Let cook about 15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add more water if it seems too dry.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. When done, drain and then mix with sauce. Serve hot with plenty of garnishes.

Garnishes for Zhajiang Mian:

• 1/2 hothouse (English) cucumber, julienned into thin strips (It's useful to have a mandoline or v-slicer to do this)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
• 4 green onions, shredded
• Chinese hot chili sauce (like Heavenly Chef Hunan chili sauce)
• Bean sprouts

I like to mix in plenty of cucumber and carrot into my noodles for plenty of texture and flavor contrast. Feel free to put in anything you like—other suggested ad-ins from out there on the Web include scrambled egg, edamame, and shredded lettuce.