Foodbuzz 24×24: Ohana Lunch
I know a lot of people from Hawaii who now live here on the Mainland and there’s nothing they miss more than the food back home.
I was selected by Foodbuzz to participate in 24×24 – where 24 bloggers are selected from around the world to eat and blog about their meals all in the same 24 hours. I knew a meal of all local food would be perfect!
So I invited friends and family who miss the taste of Hawaiian food. Not a kitschy Hawaiian party – no, no pineapples or plastic leis here – I’m talking the REAL food from the islands, things you’d find in plate lunches or at a family party.
I made a ton of dishes and um, went overboard with the desserts (as always). Give me a theme and I can’t help myself.
It was a big ol’ Ohana lunch for all my family and friends who miss the taste of home. Comfort food at it’s best.
Kalua Pig (recipe, here)
No pit digging here, just made in a crock pot, I stewed this little piggie for over 16 hours to tender perfection.
Mochiko Chicken (recipe, here)
Well, you KNOW I love mochi, and anything fried – well, you won’t find a more flavorful, comforting dish.
Chicken Long Rice (recipe, here)
Basically noodles, cooked with chicken in a warm broth, the perfect side dish.
Spam + Egg Musubi (recipe, here)
A take on the traditional, adding the egg makes you feel like it’s breakfast time.
Fried Poke
For people who may not want totally raw fish, a quick pan fry really brings out the flavor of the poke.
Mac Salad
It wouldn’t be a complete meal unless you had a scoop of rice and a scoop of Mac Salad.
Lomi Lomi Salmon (recipe, here)
Yet another side dish, that goes perfect with Kalua Pig.
Poi
Not for everyone, if you DO like it, it goes well with everything on the plate. If you don’t…just move on.
Lilikoi Crunch Cupcakes (recipe, here)
I can’t have a party without cupcakes! A light vanilla cake with a lilikoi jelly filling, topped with a mascarpone frosting. A dessert that is light as air and will leave you wanting more, and more, and…
Coco Puffs (recipe, here)
The Liliha Bakery makes the best coco puffs in the world. Since I can’t get them easily, now I just make them at home.
Sweet Bread
Ah, what party is complete without King’s Hawaiian sweet bread? So good with butter & Hawaiian Sun Guava jam, but they also taste GREAT filled with yummy Kalua Pig…
Hawaiian Sun
I bought a lot of Hawaii juice to remind folks of home.
Shave Ice
The most fun was putting together the shave ice station. EVERYONE loves shave ice, and since our winter in L.A. means it’s 75 degrees, it actually fit in perfectly. Yes, I own a professional shave ice maker, who…doesnt? Ok, just me.
I put a bunch of syrups out (bubblegum was by far the most popular), as well as a variety of toppings: mochi balls, lychee jelly, condensed milk and ice cream.
The whole menu here:
Kalua Pig
Mochiko Chicken
Chicken Long Rice
Spam and Egg Musubi
Fried Poke
Mac Salad
Lomi Salmon
Lilikoi Crunch Cupcakes
Coco Puffs
Sweet Bread
Hawaiian Sun Juice
Shave Ice
While I usually have some leftovers, not this party – most everything was WIPED OUT. I’d say that’s a success!
It was nice that everyone who came to the party had a connection and also loved to eat. I love throwing parties because I like to bring people together and fill them with happiness…via Coco Puffs, of course.
Coco Puffs
Whenever I go back to Hawaii I always try and stop at Liliha bakery. The chocolate filled cream puffs aka “Coco Puffs” are to die for. So much more than your average cream puff, it’s the little dollop of Chantilly frosting on top that makes them irresistible.
Since I can’t get them over here AND the recipe is secret, I decided to try and make my own. They came out darn close, but I guarantee you – nothing is better than the real thing.
choux pastry ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
pinch of salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
chocolate pastry cream ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
5 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chantilly Frosting ingredients:
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup ( 1-1/2 sticks) butter
pinch of salt
2 teaspoon vanilla
In a pot over high heat, bring the water, milk, butter ans salt to a boil.
Carefully add the flour and stir stir stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides. Cook for another minute or so to cook the flour out a bit. Let cool for a minute, then pour into the bowl of an electric mixer.
On low speed beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
The original cocoa puffs are rather big, but I like to make mine MINI. Using a piping bag, scoop or heck, just a spoon, place about a Tablespoon of the dough onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Leaving space inbetween fit about 12 onto a sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, lower the oven temp to 350 bake for another 10 mins. Turn off the oven and let the puffs dry in the warm oven for yet another…ten..minutes. It’ll be worth it, I promise. Let cool on a wire rack.
Now, if you aren’t filling them immediately, you can keep them in an airtight container, otherwise, let’s move onto the chocolate cream.
In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the sugar, flour, cornstarch and egg yolks. Beat for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
In a saucepan, add the heavy cream and the milk and bring to a simmer. Pour about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture into the egg/flour mixture in the electric mixer. You are trying to temper it so it doesn’t cook. Stir until combined then pour that BACK into the saucepan with the remaining warm milk.
Cook over medium heat while stirring, until thickened.
Pour the mixture into a bowl, and whisk in the vanilla and the chocolate chips until you get a nice smooth custard.
Cover in plastic wrap, placing the wrap right on the surface of the custard to avoid a ‘skin’. Keep in the fridge until nice and cold and ready to use.
While the choux is resting and the custard filling is chillaxing, start on the Chantilly frosting.
In a saucepan combine the milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter, salt and vanilla. Cook over medium low heat until the frosting thickens – about 10 minutes. If you want a thicker frosting, after it is thickened put the frosting into the freezer until you get it to a piping consistency.
When you are ready to assemble, place the custard in a piping bag and pipe it into the choux puffs. Top each of the coco puffs with a spoonful of Chantilly frosting. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
Is this a lot of work? Heck yes! But it beats spending $400 for a plane ticket to pick up fresh ones…
Spam and Egg Musubi
In Hawaii breakfast often consists of spam, eggs and rice. Here you get it all in one tidy package! A twist on the traditional musubi (recipe, here) this is for you breakfast lovers out there…
ingredients:
1 can Spam
3 cups cooked rice
soy sauce
sugar
5 big sheets of nori (seaweed)
acrylic musubi maker
5 eggs
Open a can of Spam. One can should be able to be cut into 9 slices, pretty evenly. Some people try and get ten, but I like to make the spam a little thicker for more taste.
Place the cut slices in a pan – drizzle with soy sauce, and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Turn over and do the same to the other side. NOW turn the pan on to medium high heat.
I like to cook it until the sugar gets good and caramelized and you get a nice sticky teriyaki color on the outside. Turn them to make sure the other side cooks the same. Take them out of the pan and set them aside.
In a separate pan, on medium high heat, scramble and cook the eggs into an omelet consistency.
Now you’ll need a musubi maker. If you don’t live in Hawaii, you’re in luck, now you can buy them online
Get the large sheets of nori and lay one down. Put the musubi maker on top, and add a layer of rice.
On top of that add the spam, and then the egg. Add a second layer of rice on top of everything.
Using the top press (wet it to avoid sticking) press down on the rice mixture.
Fold over the bottom half of the nori, then wetting the top edge of the top half, fold that over to stick.
Cut them in fourths for smaller servings or just cut them in two and eat them as a whole block!
Lomi Lomi Salmon
The first time I saw lomi salmon I thought it was salsa. A common mistake. I mean tomatoes, onions, green onions…What. There’s salmon in there? Yep…
ingredients:
1/2 pound salted salmon
4 large tomatoes, diced
4 stalks green onion, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
You can make your own salted salmon but you can also find it in stores pre-made. I just make sure I soak it in a pan of water for 3+ hours to release some of the salt.
Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Remove the skin and bones. Now most people shred the salmon, but I chop mine into small chunks. It’s your call.
In a medium bowl toss the salmon with the diced tomatoes, diced onion and chopped green onion. Serve COLD.
Mochi filled with Nutella
For the New Year’s Day party I always make An (sweet red bean) mochi, this time just for fun, I played around with a bunch of different fillings, one of which should be a given to fill ANYTHING…Nutella.
Mochi + Chocolatey spread = happiness.
ingredients:
3-1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp food coloring (I prefer pink)
1 box mochiko
nutella
potato starch
Nutella
Prep a cutting board by sprinkling liberally with potato starch. This needs to be totally ready to go since you will be running over to it with boiling hot mochi. Set aside.
*this image by the Food Librarian
In a large pot, boil the water and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the food coloring and stir. I used purple, so that I could tell the the ones with the Nutella apart from all the other mochis. Like a mochi Scarlet Letter.
Now the work – add the box of mochiko to the tinted sugar water and stir like crazy!! HURRY – if you don’t work fast it won’t come together and you’ll get the dreaded lumps.
Now quick, dump it on your prepped cutting board and sprinkle with potato starch so it doesn’t dry out. DO IT! If this recipe sounds hectic, it is. It’s a heck of a lot of work, all based on timing.
Now pull off a piece of mochi, kind of round it out in your hand and flatten it. Fill with about 3/4 teaspoon of Nutella. Pinch the edges closed and flatten a bit into a little mochi shape.
They are sweet, don’t get me wrong. So you might want to keep them on the small size so as not to put people into sugar comas.
If you eat these freshly made, the mochi is hot and warms up the Nutella and, oh lordy. Heaven.
Banana + Peanut Butter Swirl cupcakes w/Chocolate Ganache
My friends call me the Cupcake Fairy because I often drop off my experiments I MEAN CREATIONS, or extra cupcakes on people’s doorsteps, businesses, offices – just a little treat to get them through the day.
Still no banana fan, I know plenty of people who are. So I combined bananas with peanut butter and covered it all in a rich ganache. A sweet little gift from the Cupcake Fairy.
ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3 mashed bananas
2 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup peanut butter
ganache:
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, mashed bananas, eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture a little at a time – make sure you don’t overmix!
Soften the peanut butter by microwaving it until you get a fairly runny consistency. Spoon the batter into muffin cups.
Here’s where the swirl comes, are you ready? Add a dollop – I’d say a teaspoon – of peanut butter into the center of the batter. Use a chopstick or knife and swirl the peanut butter around – just enough so it’s incorporated but doesn’t disappear.
Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean – approx 15-17 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
While the cupcakes are cooling make the ganache. In a saucepan melt the chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla. Keep and eye on it, and as it starts to melt, stir and stir some more. Keep stirring until you get a nice glossy ganache. Set aside to cool off just for a few minutes, so it will thicken.
Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache and let them set.
This is a sweet little cupcake, full of flavor!
Mexican Chicken Soup
When I was a kid I always remember there being a bag of Chicharrones aka fried pork rinds in the house. While my family loved to snack on them, I find them to be a great accompaniment to my Mexican Chicken Soup.
ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 chicken breast halves, bone in
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups corn
Toppings:
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2 avocados, diced
Chicharrones
In a large pot** sauté the garlic, onion and bell pepper in the olive oil. When soft, add the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and the 2 chicken breast halves.
Cut the chicken down to the bone (not through), so that it’s still attached, but in smaller pieces. That way it will cook faster. I like the chicken bone-in because it’s more flavorful when it simmers down. At the end you’ll just pull out the bones and skin.
Add the cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1-1/2 hours. Stir in the corn and serve.
I like to serve this soup in bowls, over rice – and topped with diced tomatoes, avocados and of course, chicharrones!
The kids love this dish, I think it’s the warmth of the soup and the crunch of the chicharrones. Perfect for winter, though our winter here in SoCal is 75 degrees. Sorry folks!
**My Le Creuset French Oven
Jan 23 – National Pie Day!
It’s no secret, I love cake. But since today is National Pie Day, well – I’ve got to give it up for the pie. There are so many ways to eat it, sweet or savory – these are some of my favorites:
Pies on a stick (recipe, here)
Pie on a stick is the sweetest way to get a little tiny bit o’ pie.
Mini Chicken Pot Pies (recipe, here)
This recipe is 100 times better than any other because the pies are mini. The end.
Shepherd’s Pie (recipe, here)
Pure comfort food, enough to feed an army.
Kim Chee Pizza…pie (recipe, here)
Ok, this is a stretch, but pizza pie? With Kim Chee? Oh, just trust me on this…
Lemon Ice Cream Pie (recipe, here)
I pretty much love lemon anything, but this pie is so cool and light it was hard not to eat the entire thing myself. Lordy.
WWIMeat: What Would Iron Man Eat? – Lychee Chicken
No, I don’t go all out with the crazy kawaii bentos like those moms in Japan, I’d like to, but you remember ‘the incident.’ So I tone it down now…just a touch.
However, with my handy dandy nori punch, I can make a little rice ball come to life like the cutest of pandas.
Served as a side to Lychee chicken – and Iron Man’s got a nice himself a nice little bento. He and Yoda should hang out and have a lunch date.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s 30th birthday
So it’s Buffy’s birthday, yay! What. You don’t celebrate fictional characters birthdays? What’s wrong with you? Well the folks at Geek Girl Con do and they sponsored parties all across the country.
The L.A. party was held at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood – a huge, fantastic comic shop right in the heart of Sunset Blvd.
My geek-related food fests continue as I was asked to make cupcakes for the event, but can I ever stop there? This is me, Ms. Over The Top, remember? So I did an entire sweets table to go along with it for the event. After all it’s not every day your favorite Slayer turns 30.
I made Red Velvet cupcakes, because who doesn’t love those – AND they are red, which went along with the very black/red vampire decor we had going on.
I also made some Dark Chocolate cupcakes and turned them into my ‘Back from the grave’ cupcakes. (recipe, here) These were a hit. Baby doll arms reaching out of Oreo crumbs dirt like it’s going to kill you? How can you resist? They fit in perfectly with the Buffy theme and were chocolate-y delicious.
Boy do I get carried away with a theme. I had a large apothecary jar that I filled with GIANT POCKY (yes there is such a thing, you can buy it online, even) and labeled, “Buffy’s chocolate covered ‘stakes’.” Get it? Get it? Ok, you got it.
The other jar I filled with little fizzy Japanese hard candies in cola and fruit flavors, and labeled those “Slayer Sweets”. Everyone loves candy at a party.
To round it out, the third jar I filled with Hershey’s kisses, special ones that you can ONLY get in Hawaii. Chocolate kisses with a macadamia nut in the middle, thus: “Kisses…with a bite.” Ah vampire jokes, you never…ever…stop.
There was Buffy trivia, a happy birthday song and a TON of Buffy fans. I hope all the Geek Girls across the country had great parties, and Happy Birthday Buffy!
Special thanks to Meltdown Comics and Geek Girl Con!
