Chef's Special with Jun Li at Sojo

Jun Li, 40, is currently SoJo's Head Chef, joining the team nearly three years ago. He hails from Shanghai and is married with a teenage daughter.

He started preparing simple home-cooked dinners for his family when he was 12, his parents being away at work all day. That got him hooked on “cooking and perfecting dishes”.

When he left school at 18, he was offered, and gladly accepted, a kitchen position in a big hotel in Shanghai. The restaurant in the hotel served 300 patrons at any time of day, specialising in Shanghainese cuisine. Li started from scratch his formal training, kitchen portering and prepping. After three months he was elected by the head chef Wang Jun to join the chefs. Within two years he joined the top rank of chefs in a hierarchy of four levels. He remained a top-grader for five years.

He then joined the national consortium of restaurants owned by the government of The People’s Republic of China. He trained in other areas of the country’s regional cuisines, including Cantonese and Szechuan dishes. He was head chef in various top restaurants in Shanghai and Jiangsu.

Coming to the UK, he took up a sous chef position at Sojo before making his way to the top.

STIR Fried Gan Bian Fine Beans with Minced Pork is my fellow chef Rongxian Xu's favourite dish and the top veggie seller at Sojo. Gan Bian is literally translated, in Mandarin, as dry fried and is a Sichuanese method of cooking.

This dish is ideal for those meat lovers who are constantly told to eat their greens!

Ingredients:
* 400g fine beans
* 100g minced pork
* 1-2 chopped fresh chilli
* 2 tbsp chopped shallots
* 1 tsp minced ginger
* 3 cloves minced garlic
* 1 tsp Shaoshing wine or sherry
* 1/2 tsp sugar
* 1 tsp light soy sauce
* 1 tsp sesame oil
* 1/8 tsp salt or to taste

Method
Cut ends of fine beans (you want segments about 6cm in length). Wash, drain and pat dry beans.

Prepare other ingredients.

Heat the wok with 3/4 tbsp of oil until you see slight smoke and immediately add beans.

Turn down to medium/high heat. Keep stirring until the beans are slight brown and blistered in appearance.

Remove the beans but keep excess oil in wok.

Over high heat add the minced pork and stir fry for about 30seconds.

Add the shallots, Shaoshing wine, ginger, garlic and sugar during this cooking stage.

Mince pork should be separated, ie not clumped together, and should be slightly crisp and dry.

Add the beans and mix in with pork.

Add the fresh chillies, light soy sauce and sprinkle salt to taste and stir.

Finally add the sesame oil, stir in and serve.