Hawaiian Deliciousness

Eliza put all the countries she had traveled to into the tub, so that of course included Hawaii - which isn't technically a country, but a State of the United States of America. The great thing about Hawaiian cuisine, is that although it is influenced my American Cuisine, it also has it's own identity- often referred to as Pacific Rim Cuisine, or Hawaiian Fusion. It is an interesting mix of tropical Pacific Islands cuisine, with an Asian/Japanese influence.

I have one Hawaiian cookbook, which I purchased on my first trip to Hawaii back in 2004. After flicking through it, I decided to actually make up some of my own dishes based on our memories of eating in Hawaii.  It wasn't that I didn't like the cookbook, but there was a lot of food that my family wouldn't eat - including raw fish.

Some of the memories of food in Hawaiian include:

• Fresh fish and chips - usually Mahi Mahi or Ono ( I specifically remember buying this the several times we have stayed near the Coconut Marketplace on Kauai - there is a great little fish and chip shop in the centre of the marketplace);
• Luau food - the absolute favourite was Kahlua Pig;
• Loco Moco from a local takeaway on Maui (It wasn't that good - but you just have to have one when you are in Hawaii!);
• Pizza at the Californian Pizza Kitchen;
• Fresh Tropical Fruit especially pineapple;
• Lots of Steak and Chips;
• Huge meals at the Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki (we eventually learned to just order appetizers, or share mains!);
• Lots of Beer on Tap at the Yardhouse (I believe something like 130 different varieties);
• Pretty bad coffee - except when we discovered the coffee shop at the bottom of the Sheraton Hotel;
• Great Pacific Rim/ Fusion Cuisine we had at Roy's Restaurants on both the Big Island and Oahu. This is definitely where you have to book a table to get in. We had our anniversary dinner at Roy's one year in Waikiki.

Needless to say - we can't wait to go back for our fourth visit - perhaps next year?

Here is what I ended up making:

Loco Moco

I decided to do my own version of Loco Moco, and give it a little Asian twist. You may be asking what Loco Moco is? Well, it's normally purchased from a take-away shop, served in a Styrofoam container. It includes basically a hamburger patty, a fried egg, rice and some normally very ordinary gravy. Dave wasn't particularly a fan of the one we purchased on the island of Maui, so I decided to see if I could do a slightly more upmarket version of one.

Here is what I ended up making:

Now - it still looks like Loco Moco, but the burger patty had some extra flavourings in it. Here is what I added to my burger patty:

• 500g beef mince
• 1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs (I just blitz bread in a hand-held blender)
• A handful of finely chopped coriander leaves
• 1-2cm of grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 1-2 Tablespoons of Teriyaki Sauce
• 1 egg

I just combined all of these and formed them into 4 patties.

I also made a macaroni salad. For this I combined:

• Half a bag of macaroni cooked
• 1/2 finely chopped red capsicum
• Finely sliced stick of celery
• 1/2 Finely chopped red onion
• Handful of parsley finely chopped

I then combined 1/2 cup of pre-bought mayonnaise with 1/2 cup of cream and 1 teaspoon of sugar, and mixed this through.

For the gravy I made a marsala sauce - which I got from here:  Make ahead Marsala Gravy 

Pineapple and Apple Crumble

We really wanted a comfort food type dessert with a tropical twist. So Eliza and I decided to make a Pineapple and Apple crumble - Mainly on account that we had a couple of nice fresh pineapples which only cost a couple of dollars each, and quite a few granny smith apples.

Here is how we made it:

• Peeled, sliced and cored 4 Granny Smith Apples (we cheated and used our curly apple machine!)
• 1 Pineapple peeled, cut into quarters length-wise and cored. Then we thinly sliced it in the food processor using the slicing blade.

Layer the fruit in a casserole dish or over-proof dish - apple, pineapple, apple, pineapple.

Make the crumble by blending in the food processor the following ingredients until it resembles coarse sand:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• half block of unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Spread the crumble mixture over the top of the fruit and then pop in the oven on about 175 degrees Celsius until lightly browned.

Aloha Burger

This one I found a recipe for on the sbs.com.au web-site here - Aloha Burger.

I was meant to use fresh pineapple - but we had either used or eaten the two pineapples, and I had forgotten to purchase another one - so we pulled out a tin of trusty Dole Plantation pineapple slices (canned in Hawaii).  What makes the burger Hawaiian is not just the pineapple, but the teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise.

Kahlua Pork and Sweet Slaw Tortillas

You might be asking how I pulled off Kahlua Pork - considering it's normally cooked in an Imu in the ground, where it is slow smoked for a day. I found a recipe which used a slow cooker. I managed to source some Liquid Hickory Smoke from an Australian Website called Smoked and Cured. I couldn't source any Pink Hawaiian Sea Salt (must purchase some in Hawaii next time we go), so I substituted Pink Himalayan Sea Salt. This is basically all you need to do a slow cooker version of Kahlua Pork.

To cook it:

1. Purchase a Pork Shoulder or Pork Rolled Roast (I removed the layer of fat).

2. Put it in a slow cooker, and prick it all over with a fork.

3. Spread 1 Tablespoon of Liquid Smoke for each kilo of pork, over the pork.

4. Liberally grind the sea salt over the pork.

5. Turn on the slow cooker and cook for 9-12 hours (depending on the cut and size of the meat - just check after 9 hours).

It turned out wonderfully, I think I might add a tablespoon of brown sugar to the mix next time round to sweeten a little. I served the pork with tortillas and a sweet slaw. Made the recipe for the sweet slaw up as well by combining:

1/2 shredded wombok

1/2 shredded red onion

1/2 pineapple shredded

I used the food processor with the shredding blade, and then changed to the grating blade and added 1 carrot. I then changed to the fine slicing blade and added two sticks of celery. 

Then I added the slaw dressing, using the same mix as the macaroni salad:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup of cream

1 teaspoon sugar

This one is definitely going on our re-cook list!

Coconut and Lime Panna Cotta with a Toffee Pistachio Crumble

I made up this recipe myself as well, using a basic Panna Cotta recipe as a base. Here is how I made it:

Ingredients - Panna Cotta

3 sheets of gelatine
300ml milk
300ml cream
30ml Malibu
Zest of 1 lime

Method - Panna Cotta

1. Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for about 10-15 minutes
2. Put milk and cream in a saucepan and heat gently until almost boiling, then squeeze the water out of the gelatine and add to the milk mix. Stir until dissolved.
3. Add in the zest and malibu and stir to combine.
4. Remove from the heat.
5. Lightly grease some little panna cotta tins (or you could use small ramekins). I just spray a tiny bit of canola oil in the tins.
6. Pour the panna cotta mixture into 6-8 small tins (less if you are using ramekins I should imagine).
7. Put in the refrigerator overnight to set (or for a full day).

Ingredients - Lime and Coconut Syrup

1/2 cup of lime juice
1/4 cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon of Malibu

Method - Syrup

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat, and stir until sugar dissolves.
2. Cool.

Ingredients - Toffee and Pistachio Crumble

1 cup sugar
1 small bag of Pistachios kernels (I think it was 150g)

Method - Toffee and Pistachio Crumble.

1. Spread the pistachio nuts on to a over tray covered with baking paper.
2. In a saucepan on Medium heat add the sugar.
3. Keep swirling the sugar in the saucepan (don't stir), until it melts and caramelises. It took quite a while for mine to completely caramelise.
4. Remove from the heat, and pour over the nuts.
5. Leave to set.
6. When ready to serve, blitz part of the brittle in a hand held blender.

To serve:
1. Unmould the panna cottas. I find the best way is to dip a knife into boiling water and run it around the edges of the tin. Holding the panna cotta in one hand, place the serving plate upside down on top of the panna cotta, and then flip over.
2. Pour over the syrup, and then sprinkle over the toffee crumble.

Macadamia Nut Encrusted Chicken with Tropical Salsa

For this one, I butterflied 2 chicken breasts and then cut them into tenderloin sized slices. I crumbed them just like schnitzel pieces by first coating in plain flour, then lightly beaten eggs, then in a mix of blitzed macadamia nuts (a small packet) mixed with about 1-2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs.

For the salsa I simply diced thinly - 2 tomatoes, 1 avocado, 1/2 red onion, 1/2 large telegraph cucumber, 1/4 pineapple. Add a couple of tablespoons of chopped coriander and splash over some red wine vinegar (I actually used guava flavoured vinegar).

Serve on a bed of potato mash.

Well - that's it for Hawaiian week. We have just completed Chinese Week, so I will probably post our experiences next week some time!

Di :-)

Afghan Food Week

I always find it interesting cooking food from countries that I have never considered before. I really had no idea what Afghan people ate prior to this year's exercise in eating food from a different country each week.

From previous experience with other Middle Eastern countries, I guessed that the food would include some sort of rice/grains, breads are almost always present (just cooked in different ways with slightly different mixes of ingredients), grilled meats, as well as any vegetables that can be grown in the region. So what do Afghan people really eat?

Firstly, Coriander is their most commonly used herb/spice. Not something I would of known previously (I had always assumed coriander was more an Asian ingredient).

Garlic, onions, mint (including dried mint) and chilis provide the other flavourings, as well as spices such as garam masala, cinnamon, cumin and cardamon.

As far as fruit and veggies go - eggplants, capsicums, tomatoes, spinach, leeks, carrots, lemons and limes seem to be the most commonly used.

They also serve rice, flat breads and yoghurt with a lot of their meals. Dried split peas and kidney beans also seemed to be quite regularly used.

Meat such as Beef, Lamb and Chicken seems to be preferred, and quite often minced meats are used in recipes.

Nuts such as pistachios, almonds and walnuts feature heavily in their desserts.

All in all - you can find all the ingredients in the regular supermarket. If you make some Afghan desserts, you may also need to source some Rose Water - I found a really nice one (and some orange blossom water at Grandma's Bakery - on the highway between Canberra and Goulburn. They have a wonderful little shop that sells these things as well as packaged lentils, wheats, bottled and flavoured oils and vinegars etc. Worth a stop in, if you are driving past.

All the recipes for this experience were sourced from "The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook" by Tess Mallos.

On to what we ate during our Afghan experience:

Bean and Meatball Soup
Maushawa

Comments: Interesting, certainly different to any other soups I have made.  Included red kidney beans, split peas and rice - which added a creaminess to the soup. The meatballs were made from beef mince flavoured with cinnamon and chili. The Soup itself was tomato based, with some yoghurt added at the end. Not sure I would make it again. I liked it, as did Dave, I don't think the girls did.

Roast Chicken with Eggplant and Yoghurt Sauce
Kabab-e-Murgh & Bouranee Baunjaun

I really enjoyed this meal - my favourite bit was the eggplant dish, it was so tasty that I would make it again (and I'm not a fan of eggplant). The combination of flavours really worked well. The dish included eggplants (of course), onions, green capsicums, tomatoes and a little chili powder, served on a bed of yoghurt which had garlic mixed through it.  Yummo!

The Chicken was also delish, having been roasted and basted with a tomato mixture. Its served with boiled eggs, which I also rather enjoyed!

Noodles with pulses, meat and yoghurt
Aush

And yes, I made the noodles from scratch:

The dough for the noodles is made by hand - simply 300g plain flour, salt and water, rolled out until it is really thin - rolled up and then cut into ribbons.

The sauce for the noodles included a pulse mixture of yellow split peas and kidney beans, a meat suace of mince meat, onion and tomato passata, and a yoghurt mixture of yoghurt, mint, chili and coriander.

It was kind of like an Afghan version of spaghetti bolognese!

Meat Sauce
Korma
Served with:
Steamed Rice and Coriander Chutney
Chalau & Chatni Gashmeez

Loved the Coriander Chutney, had a nice herby flavour with a vinegar bite to it. I didn't make the flat breads (not enough time sometimes on a weeknight to do this!). The meat sauce was a lamb sauce - similar to an Indian Korma, which I'm not sure has yellow split peas in it like this one. Although the korma had chili and cumin in it, I think I prefer a much spicier Indian version. I would probably make the Coriander Chutney again though - a nice accompaniment  to a meal, it was a blend of coriander, walnuts, green chili, garlic, vinegar and salt.

Well - that's a wrap for Afghan Food Week.

After we finish all our countries (I think we have enough to get through the entire year), we will review everything we have cooked and pick out our favourites to permanently add to our collection of recipes to make over again.

Di :-)