skchai

Thanks, Tom. I wish Honolulu had a web site like yours!

Are you referring to jin dui, Rachel - spherical fried mochi balls filled with red beans or lotus seeds, the kind you often see at dim sum restaurants? They did have those at the festival. . . Glad that being able to put a face on me was reassuring and not horrifying. . .

O.K., now I think I understand what you're talking about. No, I don't like tourism ads either. . .

That's not, to say the least, the usual tourist itinerary! Sounds like a great trip. . .

I'll second that. You definitely should write your memoirs, Irwin. Your mention of Uncle Ben's reminds me of the piece of propaganda that the South Korean state-affiliated station KBS ran one time when the trade walls "protecting" Korean consumers against foreign rice were starting to come down a few years ago. They put a bunch of farmers in a room with bowls of Korean rice and U.S. rice side-by-side, and asked them to do a "blind" taste test. From the farmers' comments, it was obvious that the U.S. rice was something like Uncle Ben's - they were gagging and disgusted that the rice was dry and crumbly. The announcer then proudly stated something to the effect that now we know why Korean rice is the best! They didn't bother to mention that there might be more than one kind of rice produced in the the U.S. . .

The Night (sic) in Chinatown Festival is put on each year by the Honolulu Chinatown Merchants Association. It is always held on the second Saturday preceding Chinese New Year (Jan. 10 this year) in the heart of the rejuvenated 150 year-old Chinatown in downtown Honolulu. While the festival originally consisted of a evening parade, it has expanded to the point where much of the action for the festival - certainly the eating-related action - takes place during the day. Over 10,000 people show up each year to grind away at the offerings of an assortment of businesses and community organizations. Over the past 10 years, many of the new businesses in the area have been started by immigrants from Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnamese and Filipinos, something that is reflected in the food on offer. Here's a sample what we saw this year. . . The entrance to the food stall areas on Maunakea Street. Four blocks of nothing but food stalls, along the route the Night in Chinatown parade would take later that night. Doesn't look too crowded from here but once you got into the middle it was hard to get any elbow room. "Vegetarian fried smelt" from the Hawaii Buddhist Cultural Society. Made from tofu skin - very salty, crunchy and addictive. Scallion bread being fried. . . Spatchcocked Hulihuli Chicken from Koala Moa restaurant. A Cantonese place with the various noodle things and the inevitable "jai", or Monk's Food, the more-or-less mandatory vegetarian New Year's dish containing dried tofu, bamboo shoots, black seaweed (hijiki), and bean thread noodles (third from left). I didn't usually have a chance to write down the names of the booths - was too busy being jostled around while holding a camera in one hand and several bags of food in the other. We liked this booth a lot - it specialized in skewered grilled things. Had a few of the salt-grilled prawns, fish and caramel-sauce marinated roast pork, and chicken skewers. My son took this picture of me grinning idiotically with two roast pork skewers. This booth was apparently (?) sponsored by a Buddhist monastery - but somehow it wasn't vegetarian! The Vietnamese-style beef balls were great, as were the the turmeric-yellow fishcake sticks (far right). Again, I didn't get the name of the booth. Great green papaya salad with nearly-raw slices of tiger prawn, and fried rice pink from its heavy concentration of lup cheong and char siew. And, of course, gao. The ones shown here are among the best you can get in the islands, from the Shung Chong Yuein pastry shop on Maunakea St. Picked up a large one with some of their famous candied fruit / veg; we are still working on finishing it.

Alanamoana, thanks so much for the positive feedback. I have fun writing up these posts, so I guess I don't mind the time it takes . . . Quickie history: Malassada (spelt properly with two "s"'s) literally means "badly cooked" in Portuguese. It is traditionally a pre-Lent dish and was brought her by the immigrants from the Azores and Madeira. Leonard Rego started his bakery in the early 1950s, and pretty much had the market to himself until the number of malasada bakeries began to multiply in the 1980s or so. Now we have Champion, Agnes, and many others. . . There are now so many new fillings available and numerous upscale versions, such as Chef Mavro's $10 lilikoi coulis-filled number. Irwin, thanks for your observations about the role of the churches in spreading the Malasada - you seem to have information about everything! The Punahou Carnival Malasada booth - in recent years it seems they make their own rather than get it from Leonard's. They're always looking for fry cook volunteers. There's even a "Punahou Carnival Malasada" recipe posted on Art Pollard's UH recipe site, though I can't prove that's the one they use. One thing that seems to fit is that they do use a LOT of nutmeg. IMHO, the main reason the line is so long at the Punahou Carnival is that they are still only one scrip apiece! So last time we waited patiently so we could use up our "spare change" scrip on malasadas, and ended up taking home about 40-50, almost filled a whole grocery bag!

Chris - Thanks for the Mochi Lady link. Pretty amazing - especially the one with a whole strawberry in the center. Other stuff I've never seen before as well. Must check it out one of these days, though it doesn't seem like she takes anything less than party-size orders! Shiewie - I'm not of Chinese descent so I probably don't know all the protocols, but many people I know just eat it as one of the essential New Year's foods, along with Jai, "Monk's Food", regardless of ethnicity. Here, sorry to say it's usually steamed in cellophane wrap or aluminum foil rather than banana leaves. Makes it almost impossible to peel off. . . As for what we do with the hard ones - we sit around and argue about who's to blame for letting it get dry, then we use it as a paperweight. Your ideas sound MUCH better! I'd like to try them out. . .

I guess I have to confess to being one who enjoys the "cultural gloss", albeit not of the "highly dubious" kind. However, I do recognize that there is sometimes a certain preciousness to a lot of it and often the recipes take a backseat. I would think that of all the cookbooks published in India, the Penguin series tends to have more cultural background than others, certainly more than a Tarla Dalal or Aroona Reejhsinghani book. That's part of what I like about the series. BTW, here, I believe, is a list of all the books in the series, with live links to the publisher. Did I miss any? Anglo Indian Food and Customs - Patricia Brown The Calcutta Cookbook - Bunny Gupta, JayaChaliha, Meenakshi Das Gupta Curry, Curry, Curry - Ranjit Rai The Essential Andhra Cookbook - Bilkees Latif The Essential Delhi Cookbook - Priti Narain The Essential Goa Cookbook - Maria Teresa Menezes The Essential Kodava Cookbook - C B Muthamma, P. Gangamma Bopanna The Essential North-East Cookbook - Hoihnu Hauzel Kashmiri Cooking - KrishnaPrasad Dar Parsi Food and Customs - B.J.Manekshaw A couple other regional cookbooks published by Penguin India but apparently not part of the series: Flavours of the Spice Coast - K M Mathew Great Goan Cooking: 100 Easy Recipes - Maria Teresa Menezes Note: Edited because I posted prematurely!

Mongo, I have the Parsi, Dehli, Calcutta, Andra, Anglo-Indian, Kashmir, and Goa volumes, and am trying to get the whole set. Among the ones I have, here are some highlights: The Calcutta volume was co-written by the late Kewpie, and has chapters on each of the city's various communities. The Dehli volume, by Priti Narain, features generous extracts from a wonderful old Urdu cookbook called Pukht-o-Paaz Shehzada Mirza Mohammed Baker Ali Khan Sahib Bahadur ke Daroga Bawarchi, Janab Sheikh Ahmed Ali Sahib ka (!) The Parsi volume, by the overall series editor Bhicoo J. Manekshaw, has encapsulated within it pretty much a full tutorial on Parsi customs and rituals. The Kashmir volume is pretty much recipes-only, and is a reprint of a volume published a couple decades ago by the late Krishna Prasad Dar, father of cartoonist Sudhir Dar, who has added illustrations. The Andhra volume focuses primarily on Hyderabad, but does attempt to include some rural recipes as well. I've got a few of them via Indiaclub, but when I have a lot to order, I go through Rediff Bookshop, which charges no markup, but adds on the actual cost of FedEx international shipping. What this amounts to is that the shipping cost usually exceeds that of the books themselves, but as long as you buy in large quantity each time it's still a lot cheaper than buying through a U.S.-based retailer.

To SOME extent, I believe that the argument about vodka quality is wrong-headed. As long as the vodka is competently distilled, the main determinant of taste will be the infusant / flavoring extract, not the vodka itself. 1) Even if their are subtle differences in the taste, aroma, mouth-feel of different vodkas, the overall goal remains neutrality or something fairly close to it. 2) Among most Russians, the ultimate vodka seems not be tied to a particular brand but to the use of zubrowka (bison grass) as the infusant. In relation to this, the main problem with U.S. vodkas is not incompetent distillation but the soda-pop additives that are used to flavor them. Is it even possible to get zubrowka here in the U.S.?

Welcome back Emily. . . Hope you had a good time on the mainland. . .

Jason, the correct stuff to use is Swanson Gravy. Seriously. I'm sure Sam Choy makes his own from dripping, flour, and stock, but that's probably not what the Inouyes were pouring on top at Lincoln Grill in 1949 and not what you'll get at 90% of the plate lunch places today. Real loco moco is supposed be grind-and-go food, so anything aimed at penetrating the little gaps between the taste buds is going to go to waste. Often, people who don't like brown gravy will substitute it with teriyaki sauce. However, once you get into demi-glace with truffles or 10-year-old shoyu with honmirin, that's Wayne Hirabayashi territory, and against the spirit of loco moco IMHO. As far as the rice is concerned, medium-grain Japanese-style rice is the way to go - very starchy. This is what we refer to as plain "rice" here in Hawai`i - preferably piled into the bowl using an ice cream scoop to make compact mounds.

Probably the best version is the one you make at home. . . I mean, how much work does it take to fry an egg and hamburger, dump them on top rice, and open a can of brown gravy? But as the article you linked to points out, Cafe 100 in Hilo is currently seen as the place to eat the classic Loco Moco and all its variations. By the way, what is an article about Loco Moco, the highest calories-per-ounce dish ever invented, doing in a bikini magazine? Isn't that kind of perverse? In Honolulu, two places with well thought-of versions are Rainbow Drive-In on Kapahulu Ave and Karen's Kitchen on Cooke Street. There are also several branches of the "Loco Moco Drive-In" throughout Oahu, though perversely enough their most popular dish is garlic chicken, not loco moco. If you ever have the experience of dropping by the University of Hawai`i, you can (after dropping by to say hi) check out the "Paradise Palms" dining hall, which has its own loco moco bar. Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch, and Crab serves several different upscale versions, including lup cheong / char siu, spam, kalua pig, and mahimahi, as well as the original "Hilo style". With so many variations available, it's getting hard to define exactly what a loco moco is. I guess anything on top of a bowl of rice with a fried egg counts, sort of like a Japanese donburi but greasier. But a lot of people are trying to push past the edge of the rice bowl, so to speak. If you venture into Hoku's at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental, chef Wayne Hirabayashi will gladly whip up for you a "loco moco" made from unagi and foie gras topped with quail egg on lobster chirashi rice. Expect to pay big bucks, of course.

Thanks for all the great examples. This is becoming a very nice thread on weeds-to-eat! How about other examples: purslane and the much-maligned chickweed. Both delicious if used correctly. You don't have to be the late Euell Gibbons to love them. . . Brooks, thanks for the wikipedia link. Very informative! The University of Alabama's "Amazing Story of Kudzu" is also very useful. It contains the poignant story of Channing Cope of Georgia, who championed the "miracle vine" for many years, only to see public opinion turn against his beloved kudzu. . .

Rachel, your hypothesis about the origin of bebinca was confirmed by Miguel Cardoso in the Spain / Portugal group after I posted an inquiry there: Bebinca / Bibingka Miguel also provided a lot very interesting details about bebinca and its relation to Portugal's empire. . . . And now, for something completely different: As Chinese New Year's rolls around, one item makes its ominous appearance on local shelves: Gao. The Cantonese equivalent of the family fruitcake, gao is a weighty, durable amalgamation of mochi rice and brown sugar. It can be delicious if freshly prepared, but as it sometimes serves as part of a holiday centerpiece for days on end, it often ends up being useful primarily as a tablecloth anchor. Here are some gao that we spied in a market in Honolulu Chinatown the other day. The larger ones are apparently more popular, but beware of trying to eat one if your teeth, gums, and jaws are not in the finest fighting condition!

To be honest kudzu by itself (unless it's roasted) is really pretty bland. If it's the root we're talking about, it might be used instead of pectin to thicken the jelly, but you'd probably need another fruit to give it any real flavor. I was thinking something more along the lines of, I don't know, using the starch as a thickener for gumbo, burgoo or brunswick stew - it never lumps up! I realize it's kind of a stretch, but all that raw material out there and a need to get rid of it, some creative ways of using kudzu for food might be the proverbial two birds . . . I did find a website that has some recipes for using kudzu: Kudzu Cuisine

In East Asia (where the blame for kudzu originally lies), the root is prized for its many culinary uses. The purified starch from its roots considered to be the best thickener for sauces, and is sold at very high prices in Japan. Its roasted roots make a very popular tea in Korea. The ground up roots can also be used to make noodles. Why hasn't someone harvested all the vines clogging up the roadsides in the Southeast and made millions? I thought about this after I posted a review of a Honolulu kudzu restaurant in the Hawai`i group, then realized now bizarre the whole idea might sound to someone elsewhere in the U.S. Or would it? Are there culinary uses for kudzu in the Southeast?

You're right, Rachel. Rice, at least the rice that is normally served in Chinese restaurants here, is a non-fragrant long grain, while as you mention, Japanese-style rice is typically medium-grain (Calrose or New Variety Calrose in the U.S.) Within China itself, people depending on region eat different varieties, running the gamut from short-grain (pearl) to medium and long-grain. If it is any help to her, the "Okinawan Restaurant Project" was co-sponsored by the Hawaii United Okinawa Association and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Much of the money for the project was given by the Teruya family, former owners of Teruya's Restaurant on River St. (now Uptown Cafe). What I saw was the "Phase I" project, which is supposed to be succeeded by a "Phase II".

If I recall correctly, the food for each round was brought in more or less all at once. It did take some time ordered food to arrive, so it did seem that at least some of the preparation took place after the order when in.

O.K., a lot less typing and fiddling with scripts this week, Star-Bulletin: All-star chefs to prepare food for benefit, by Betty Shimabukuro Nobu Matsuhisa, Tetsuya Wakuda, and Hawaii's Roy Yamaguchi get together for a memorial benefit. Local contest winners recall simple snacks made with love, by Betty Shimabukuro Recipes made with saloon pilot crackers HAWAII'S KITCHEN: Sushi Go's Miso-Chile Salmon, prepared by Jon Miyabuchi and Chef Patrick Turner of Sushi Go Advertiser: Hale'iwa Kua 'Aina moving to larger digs, by Andrew Gomes Original moves around 150 yards down Kam Hwy Chicken for the soul of soup, by Wanda A. Adams Chicken soup from around the world QUICK BITES: Festival offers parade of ethnic cuisines, by Wanda A. Adams Japanese Cultural Center's New Year's Ohana Festival

Browniebaker, I will definitely try to make Taiwanese Butter Mochi one of these days, and I promise not to stir the red bean paste into the batter! Also too scared to try the baking-layers-in-sequence technique, though ironically that's the way that they make Goanese bebinca, which Rachel just mentioned above (though it doesn't have any filling). Thanks for the detailed instructions. Rachel and Tad, thanks for bringing up the issue of bibingka / bebinca. This is (at least for me) one of the mystery dishes of the mysterious East. And no, I haven't been able to meet Rachel's challenge of figuring out the puzzle behind it. Given the geographical distribution, it seems reasonable to conclude that it's of Iberian origin, but I've yet to locate a "proper" Portuguese or Spanish recipe for it. . . Bebinca is common to Goa, Macau, and East Timor; all former Portuguese colonies. Goanese and Timorese bebinca seem pretty similar; they usually made with wheat flour and coconut milk, and are made up of multiple layers. One layer is cooked, then the next layer is poured on top and cooked. Though I haven't seen a recipe with rice flour, Goanese do use rice flour in a number of other dishes (e.g. sanna). Possible the layers wouldn't separate as well with rice flour, though that's just a guess. . . Macanese are known for "bebinca de leite", which is a kind of coconut milk custard, not a cake. . . I've come across some Portuguese recipes for bebinca, but they all refer back to one of the aforementioned former colonies. . . Bibingka (at least with that spelling) seems to be unique to the Philippines. It is made from rice flour or cassava and coconut or cow's milk, and, as Tad mentioned, is baked in a banana leaf. Often Manila-style bibingka will have cheese sprinkled on top before being put under a broiler, which again suggests Iberian origins. . . In Singapore and Malaysia, there is a kind of "nonya kueh" called "kueh lapis", which is made with coconut milk and cooked in layers, like the Goanese and Timorese bebinca. . . So can anyone put all this together for me?

Great memories, Rlivings. Many people were afraid that Char Hung Sut would close after founder Bat Moi Kam Mau passed away at the age of 97 in April. However, it's still open and going strong, after nearly 60 years in business. According to her obituary, Mrs. Mau was the originator of the oversized "local-style" manapua. I'm not sure whether the Holiday Mart / Daiei manapua house still exists, since there are so many food booths near the Daiei entrance now, that it's hard to tell what's what! Anyway, until I get over to Char Hung Sut one of these days, here are a couple extra Island Manapua Factory images to keep things going: Their char siu / roast pork combo. One of the most popular takeouts, though it's hard to keep from gobbling it up in the car before you make it home. The spam, char siu, and lup cheong musubis. A prime example of pan-Asian hybrid local fast-food.

That's right. Champion does only serve the plain type, regardless of the time of day. Malasada "Purists" tend to favor those, but you're right that it's nice to have some choices!

Sounds great - the people at Gina's are very nice. Sorry I couldn't be there with you guys!