ial

Wednesday, August 28, 1991 - North

rons pa

Shore News - 53

WHILE DOING food
research in Hawaii recently,
} had a wonderful time with
many native Hawaiians. I
also learned a great deal
about Hawaiian history.

Jen
Smith

THE FRUGAL GOURMET

Everyone who lives in the
beautiful islands is a descendant
of immigrants of one sort or
another. Even the term ‘Native
Hawaiian" sefers to a descendant
of people who came from
Polynesia and Tahiti some 1,500
years ago.

The natives came from the great
islands to the south and they
brought with them a_ beautiful
culture as well as some interesting
food products.

The taro root, from which poi
is made, was brought to Hawaii
along with bananas, coconuts,
sugarcane and pineapples.

The following recipes will help
you create a luau, or traditional
Hawaiian feast. The dishes have
been changed a bit so that you
can enjoy them on the mainland
without going crazy trying to find
special ingredients.

Lau Lau

In the Islands this dish is made
with the leaves from. the ti tree,
but in this country we have to use
dried leaves. Nevertheless, the
result is charming.

Everyone is offered a small
dinner packet, neatly tied, filled
with pork and salted fish.

For each serving:

2 oz. butierfish or black cod,
freshly salted (This can be
prepared by salting the fish fillets
with kosher salt and leaving them
in the refrigetator for three hours
before use. Drain well.)

Leaves for wrapping (Dried baim-
boo or dried lous leaves can be
found in any Chinese grocery.
You can find frozen banana leaves

Classic meringue

Inquisitive
Cook

ANNE

cuiture, as well as food products such as pineapples, coconuts and papaya.

in many Thai, Chinese and Viet-
namese markets.)

4 ozs. boneless pork butt, cut into
¥-inch cubes

2 o7 3 spinach leaves

1 tbsp. spinach siems, cut into
¥2-inch pieces

Prepare the salt fish ahead of
time.

Soak the leaves, if dried, in
warm water for about one hour,
then drain. They will be soft and
piiabie.

Set out one large banana leaf,
one soaked and drained lotus leaf,
or four bamboo leaves. Place the
salt fish, pork and spinach leaves
and stems in the center of the
leaves. Wrap up into a tight little
bundle and tie with a string.

Piace them in a bamboo or
metal steamer and steam for one
hour. It is best to serve them hot,
though [I have enjoyed them
lukewarm,

Fish in Coconut Milk

(Serves 8 as an appetizer course)

The Hawaiians eat enormous
amounts of fresh fish and the
methods of preparation are in-
genious. Note that in this recipe
the lime juice sort of ‘‘cooks’* or
firms the fish,

1 tb. whitefish, very fresh, skinless
and boneless, cut into Y-inch
cubes (I suggest cod, snapper or
halibut}

2 tsp. kosher salt

Suice of 2 times

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
3 scallions, chopped

1 ¢. canned coconut milk

THE NAME **PAVLOVA”
conjures two images.

One is the spelibinding Russian
ballerina, Anna Pavlova, The
other is her culinary namesake, a
tieringue created in ber honor
during a tour of Austrafia and
New Zeaiand tn 1926,

The classic baked = meringue:
becomes a fanciful showpicce
when served as Pavlova.

[Cs served circled with fresh
fruit and topped with whipped
cream. Fresh peaches make a
spectacular and flaverful coranet
in dafe summer, and the tang of
an accompanying raspberry sauce
isa refreshing counterpamnt te the

SUE sugary base,

GARDINER WILSON A Pavlova is surprisingly siniple
—.- —— fo oameke you observe 2 few

+ 7s

eed

Phos me

. y,€ “ 28:
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4% c. peeled and chopped white
cnion

Garnish:

Toasted sesame seeds

Place the fish in a stainless-steel
or glass bowl. Mix salt and lime
juice and toss with the fish. Allow
to marinate four hours in the
refrigerator.

Remove and drain the fish. Add
the remaining ingredients and toss
well. Chill again before serving.
Garnish with sesame seeds.

Kaluha Pig
(Serves 8)

For the true version of this dish
you need a great hole in the
backyard fined with volcanic
rocks. This is called an ‘‘imu.””

A big fire is started in the imu
pit and when it is very hot, after a
night of burning, the pit is filled
with fresh bamboo leaves.

A whole pig is salted, filled with
hot rocks and placed in the pit. it
is covered with more leaves, then
a tarp, then dirt.

The pig cooks during the night
and is removed the next day.

The following method is not
quite as complex and the result is
really very good.

t 6-tb. boneless pork butt roast,
tied

2 tbsp. kosher salt

ltbsp. liquid smoke

Y Ub. fresh spinach leaves, clean-
ed

Banana, bamboo or lotus leaves,
seconstituted for wrapping. (Sec
Lau Lau recipe above for instruc-
tions.)

Rub the pork with the salt and
liquid smoke. Place the spinach in
the center of the wrapping leaves,
put the pork on top and tie up the
whole bundle with a string.

Place a steaming rack or a cake
rack in the bottom of a five- to
six- quart steel-covered oven pot
and put in the tied roast. Put %
cup water in the bottom of the
pot and cover with the lid.

Bake in a preheated oven at 500
degrees for ‘4 hour. Turn the heat
down to 325 degrees and bake for
five hours. Add more water if
necessary, but do so very sparing-
ly.

Poi

Poi is made from cooked, peel-
ed and mashed taro root that has
been allowed to ferment for a day
or two before serving. It is eaten
with the fingers with almost every
meal,

The following recipe is my own
variation (The taro can be found
in any Chinese market).

Peel fresh taro and steam until
tender, about 134 hours, reserving
steaming water,

Break into chunks and place in
a food processor in small batches.
Process just for a moment or two,
adding a bit of the reserved water
us you go, so that the result is a
paste the consistency of sour
cream, but much more grainy.

Add a bit of salt and coconut
milk. Mix well and serve at room
temperature.

Lomi Lomi Salmen

is spectacular in

special Ups,

When separating eggs, make
sure no yolk falls into the whites.
Just one drop of yolk decreitses
the volume of ese white foam to
fess than one chird of its potential,

Use glass or metal bowls, as
plastic utensils may bold traces of
fat which also inhibit foam for-
manion,

Most Pavolva recipes call for at
least four eee whites. Frozen eye
whites that have been thawed beat
toa fively foam because freezing
reduces surface tension so the
whites bond easily, One they
rach room: temperature, use tent
immediately.

Use fine granulated or berry
sugar as hese have smatiler sugar
uranules which dissulve quickly.

Many Tecipes have too much

sugar. Four tablespoons of sugar
fer each egg while is ideal. “Poo
auch sugar mekes grainy mer-
ingues and contributes to draps of
Mobture beading on the surface.

QOnee the egg whites are beaten
to a fight foam, add the suger
gradually, about one tablespoon
ata time, beating well after cach
addition,

uring Peating, sueac dissolves
in the water of the cee whites
strengthening Che stretchy protein
bubbles so they can hold air easi-
ly

A meringue is best made in dry
weather, Tis high proportion of
suas draws motsture tram the
dir, racthing the crust sucky if it
stands ona humid dity.
ey for Paviosa usually ine
chide both cornstarch aod vinegar.

™ NEWS phots Cindy Gondman
THE POLYNESIANS who immigrated to Hawaii some 1,500 years ago brought with them a beautiful

(Serves 10 as a light salad course}

This is like a cold salmon salad,
and very good.

14 Ibs. moist smoked salmon or
salted salmon or Jox, skinned,
boned and sliced

3 medium ripe tomatoes, diced

6 scallions, chopped

2 ¢. peeled and chopped white
onions

Ic. crushed ice

Mix all the ingredients together
and serve cold.

If the salmon is heavily salted
you may wish to soak it first in
fresh water for a few hours. This
is not necessary with moist smok-
ed salmon or with lox.

Chicken with tong rice
(Serves 8-10 as a noodle course).
This is a simple chicken and

noodle dish; rice as you normally
think of it is not involved. Mung
bean flour, from the same bean
that gives us bean sprouts, is
made into a very long and very
thin noodle ~- thus the name
‘long rice.”’

{1% Ibs. chicken hindquarters
(thighs and legs)

2 slices ginger, each the size of a
25-cent piece

1 tbsp. pius f tsp. salt

2 tbsp. oil

2 cleves garlic, peeled and finely
chopped

12 ozs. Chinese mug bean noodles
or ‘‘sai fun’' neodles (Any
Chinese store has these.)

2 thsp. fight soy sauce

I tsp. salt

Ground white pepper to taste

Yc. mushrooms

Garnish:

5 scallions, sliced

Place the chicken quarters in
heavy four-quart lidded pot and
add the ginger and I tbsp. salt.
Cover with water and bring to
simmer. Cook until tender, about
45 minutes.

Turn off the heat, cover the pot
and allow the chicken to cool in
the broth.

When the chicken is cool
remove it from the broth, reserv-
ing the broth. Debone the chicken
and discard the bones and skin.
Dice the meat.

Discard the ginger slices in the
broth. Set both the chicken and
broth aside.

Heat the pot again and add oil
and garlic. Saute for just a mo-
ment, then add the noodles. Add
just encugh of the reserved broth
to cover.

Add the remaining 1 tsp. salt
and all the remaining ingredients,
including the chicken, and bring
to a simmer.

Cook until all is tender, about
five minutes. Do not overcook the
noodles or they will become soft.

summer

Constarch helps absorb extra
water and contributes to the soft
centre, Vinegar provides acidity
making the egg foam stronger.

Beat the meringue ondy until it
stands in stiff peaks when the bat-
ter is lifted. Traditionally, the
Pavlova is mounded oo a lightly
greased pottery plate as the chay
wsulates the delicate foam from
the oven’s direct heat.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
tf and then decrease the
temperate to 250 degrees Fas
soon as the Pavolvie is in the
oven.

To stay tender, eae whites uced
only gentle cooking, And to pro-
ject an ethereal appearance mer.
ingue shauld be barely browned.
Bake for Pos hours or untib dry on
the surface.

es