A Kansas luau
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Mai e `ai! Come and eat!
Blake Eyman has been talking to me about Hawaiian food for many months now.
It seemed like a good time to address the subject and he provided me with a wealth of information to do so.
According to www.hawaii-luaus.com, a luau is a Hawaiian feast. The main feature is food such as poi, kalua pig, poke (raw fish), lomi salmon and beer. There is also entertainment, like Hawaiian music and hula. A luau incorporates many Pacific island traditions, especially Polynesian ones. If you’re lucky the evening will be topped off with a Samoan Fire-Knife Dance.
The traditional luau feast is eaten on grass mats laid on the ground, with a beautiful centerpiece made of ti leaves, ferns and native flowers. Bowls filled with poi (pounded taro root) and platters of pit-roasted meat are set out and sweet potatoes, salt, dried fish and fruit are laid directly on the clean ti leaves.
For those of you who are not able — or allowed — to dig an actual roasting pit in the backyard, here’s a version of the luau main dish that can be prepared in your crock pot.
Lacey Whetstone of Emporia wrote and said, “I have been waiting for the Hawaiian recipes. My husband, former ESU football player Anthony Whetstone is an ‘island boy.’ I have many Hawaiian and Korean recipes I make often for our family to enjoy. This is by far our favorite and was shared with us by another Hawaiian in Kansas.”
Mahalo nui loa, Lacey! (thanks!)
LACEY’S CROCK POT KALUA PIG
1 Pork Shoulder (5 or 6 lbs.)
Apple Cider
Liquid Smoke
Place pork shoulder in large crock pot; add apple cider to almost cover it. Add in liquid smoke. Lacey says anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon will do--whatever suits your taste buds. Simmer on low for eight to ten hours. Remove pork and place in a cake pan. Shred the meat and salt with sea salt to taste. Add a little of the pan juices to keep it moist. Lacey says it tastes best “loco” style, with steamed rice, mac salad and kimchee. Blake, with the help of Iris Tamayose (ESU Class of 1970) converted their favorite Hawaiian recipes to mainland products. You will note a call for Hawaiian salt, and can substitute Kosher salt in each case. Blake does not recommend using table salt because it melts at a different rate.
“Long rice” is actually rice noodles, and available at most stores in town as well as the Asian food markets. Blake believes these might be eight ounce packages. Long rice is so tasty, I know you’ll love it.
CHICKEN LONG RICE
3 lbs. chicken breasts
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
3 Tbsp. salad oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp. powdered ginger
2 bundles long rice
1 can (6-oz.) whole mushrooms, drained
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
Skin and de-bone the chicken, then cube it and sprinkle with salt. Heat oil in a skillet and sauté the chicken and garlic until browned. Add broth and ginger; simmer one hour or until chicken is tender.
Blake says to soak the long rice in warm water for 30 minutes. Drain and cut into 2-inch pieces. Add rice and mushrooms to the chicken and simmer 15 minutes. Add green onions just before serving.
Blake says you can use a can of salmon for this next recipe if you prefer, which is safest because it is cooked. Hawaiians rub raw salmon with salt to “cook” it when they make this dish, but if you’re watching your sodium intake that would be a problem. If you want to use fresh salmon and aren’t sure it is sushi grade, you should steam-cook it first.
HAOLE LOMI LOMI SALMON
1 lb. salmon
3 tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. water
1 cup finely crushed ice
Shred the salmon. Combine it with the tomatoes, onions and water. Mix well and chill several hours or overnight. Add the finely crushed ice (like “snow cone” ice) before serving. A`ole pilikia — No problem.
Blake says the sweet potatoes are usually cooked in the pit with the pork for the Kalua so that they have a smoky taste.
CARAMEL SWEEt
POTATOES
8 medium sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Combine butter, brown sugar and water in a saucepan and cook on medium heat until it thickens, about 20 minutes. Cut the sweet potatoes into one-inch slices and add them to the pan. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes. Sprinkle with shredded coconut before serving.
Blake mentioned a tropical fruit salad that would be very impressive and easy to make. Slice a pineapple vertically in half and cut out the flesh to make a shell. Cube the pineapple flesh, mix it with various other tropical fruits, then refill the shell. Top with shredded coconut.
TROPICAL BAKED BANANAS
12 medium bananas
1 1/4 cups coconut syrup
2 Tbsp. lime juice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-x-9-x-2-inch pan. Peel the bananas and place them in the pan (do not slice). Whisk together the coconut and lime and spread this over the bananas. Bake 30 minutes and serve warm.
These baked bananas can be made the day before, and probably up to a week in advance if you keep them covered and refrigerated.
This next recipe is a coconut pudding--yum yum!
HAOLE HAUPIA
1 1/2 cups boiling water
4 oz. shredded coconut
6 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk, scalded
Put the water and then the coconut into a blender. Process on high speed for 30 seconds, the strain through a double layer of cheesecloth.
Combine the cornstarch and sugar. Add coconut liquid to the scalded milk, then stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Pour into an 8-inch square dish and cool until firm.
Grab a grass skirt and a ukulele, roll out the bamboo mats and have a big luau in the backyard to celebrate the advent of Spring!
Next week we have a special column on food costs, so the challenge I give to you now came from one of our readers. Dutch Oven Cooking. Over coals. Outside. In the wild, even. Do you have a great Dutch oven recipe or story to share? Send it in to murphysmenu@yahoo.com or The Emporia Gazette, P.O. Box C, Emporia. A hui hou kakou--until we meet again!
Comments
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Posted by create (anonymous) on March 27, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good column, Regina. Thank you.
But be careful here, Long Rice is not rice noodles, but mung bean threads sold as Bean Thread. Just read the package carefully. They come in little cellophane wrapped packages. I buy mine eight to a package. Wal mart has it and so does the local Asian stores. Just be careful that you don't pick up rice noodles. There's quite a difference. Bean thread is made from mung beans and are transparent. Rice Noodles are made from rice and are opaque. They also absorb liquid at different rates.
Hawaiian salt, or a course salt made from Hawaiian seas, can be found at Nature's Paradise health food store. If they are out of the Hawaiian variety, they have other course salts from different oceans and they will do. The idea is to have a course salt. Not even Kosher salt will do as well.
Also, the salmon in the lomi lomi salmon should be salted, not raw. You can salt your own with some of the Hawaiian salt. Just rub it in thoroughly, wrap in plastic and put in fridge for several hours or overnight. Afterwards, rinse in cool water to remove the excess salt.
Posted by create (anonymous) on March 27, 2008 at 12:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Also, since the topic is Hawaii, perhaps folks would be interested in Halemaumau fire pit on the Big Island where there have been several earthquakes in the past few days. After a big explosion, a plume of ash has been pouring out of one side of Halemaumau. This type of activity has not happened since 1924 and scientists are excited about it. Madame Pele, the fire goddess, is kicking up her heels for some reason. The following is the website for the camera kept by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. It is live and changes every 15 minutes. Remember, Hawaii is 5 hours behind us.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cam3/
What better time to have a luau! My girls and I are having one this weekend to celebrate Madame Pele's activities. Thanks again for the recipes.
Posted by murmusic (Regina Murphy) on April 7, 2008 at 1:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you! I'm sorry I got the noodles mixed up - and it's good to know about the Hawaiian salt. Thanks! - Regina
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