All posts filed under: Polynesian

Spam, Umeboshi, and Egg Musubi

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Spam musubi are rice balls (onigiri or omusubi) that are topped with Spam and wrapped with nori; they are different from sushi because musubi rice is plain or seasoned with salt, whereas sushi rice is seasoned with vinegar, sugar, and salt. They are a popular in Hawaii and are great as breakfast or a portable snack. They are easy to bring along for a hike. The simplest Spam musubi are made from rice, salt, spam, and nori, but many variations can be made. Musubi Cafe Iyasume, which was just around the corner from the hotel I stayed at in Honolulu, offers avocado egg bacon Spam, umeboshi cucumber Spam, teriyaki Spam, egg cucumber Spam, and shiso Spam. The umeboshi version is my favorite since it is salty from the Spam and sour from the umeboshi. The recipe below combines Spam, umeboshi, and egg; it makes 6 musubi using a “mini” 7 oz can of Spam. If you’d like to use a regular 12 oz can of Spam, then double the recipe but make 10 musubi. Tare is a Japanese term for a sweetened, thickened soy sauce; each …

(Hawaiian) Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie with Haupia Topping

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This pie has a vibrant purple layer made from Okinawan sweet potatoes which are naturally purple, a rich coconut milk layer that has the consistency of firm gelatin though it’s made from only sugar, cornstarch, water, and coconut milk, and a delicate shortbread pie crust. Since the Okinawan sweet potatoes taste similar to chestnuts or taro, it is reminiscent in flavor (but not texture) to a Chinese-style sponge cake filled with a chestnut purée. It can be made any time of the year; it would be fun to serve as an unusual Hawaiian-inspired alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving sweet potato pie. Okinawan sweet potatoes have tan or brown skin and a dark purple flesh that becomes even more vibrant when cooked. They have a dry dense texture, taste sweet, and their flavor is similar to chestnuts or taro. They are most likely to be found in Hawaiian or Japanese grocery stores. This pie must be made with Okinawan sweet potatoes; other types of yam or sweet potatoes cannot be substituted because their flavor and texture is very different. Source: Modified from …

Hawaiian Luau! Oven-Roasted Kalua Pork

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I like Hawaiian food for many reasons. It is a meld of many types of cuisines: Polynesian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, American, Portuguese, and more–many of which I like to cook. Hawaiian food also has retro and vintage flair. Tiki first become in style in the mid-century, possible because American soldiers brought stories back about Polynesia and the South Pacific when they returned home after WWII and the commercial airline industry made travel more accessible. The bright colored (and often over-the-top) Hawaiian prints and rum drinks make tiki fun, and the tropical climate, flowers, and warm waters are something to long for. And it makes me reminisce about relaxation, a slow-paced small town life, and vacations (particularly the vacation that my parents surprised my sister and I with as a Christmas present years ago and the vacation that William and I took in Hawaii about a year ago). Kalua literally means “to cook in an underground oven” in Hawaiian (wiki). It is a traditional Hawaiian cooking method which uses an imu, a type of underground oven made from a dirt pit which is …

Lomi Lomi Salmon

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Even though salmon don’t swim close enough to Hawaii to be caught in its surrounding waters, early European explorers, missionaries, whalers, and the armed forces exposed Hawaiians to salt salmon (and many other types of salted, dried, or canned meats, such as Spam). It has become so integrated into Hawaiian cuisine that lomi lomi is a traditional luau (wiki) dish. The salt salmon needs to be made at least 1 day ahead, so start this recipe a day before you want to serve it. Food Safety: Use only very fresh high quality salmon, preferably sashimi/sushi quality, since the raw salmon is only lightly cured (see here for more information about what types of salmon can be eaten raw and also this wikipedia article on raw fish). I used sushi salmon (from Super Mira Market in San Francisco) to ensure that it was safe to eat raw because it has been commercially deep frozen to remove any parasites (home freezers are not cold enough), very fresh, and had a great texture. If you can’t find sushi salmon, then you could consider …