Avocado Chive Hummus with Roasted Cauliflower and Asparagus

Avocado Chive Hummus with Roasted Cauliflower and Asparagus

Avocados are one of my favorite ingredients to cook with and to eat! There are local avocados available year ’round, but they are best in the summer time.  And what better way to eat them but in hummus?  This hummus is good for sandwiches, as an appetizer (see picture above), and as a side dish.

Ingredients:

Ingredients for Avocado Chive Hummus

1 15.5 oz Can Garbanzo Beans (Liquid Reserved)

1/2 Medium Avocado

3 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 TBS Chives, Chopped

2 TBS Lemon Juice

1 tsp Smoked Paprika

2 ea Garlic Cloves

TT Salt and Pepper

Pulse the ingredients in food processor or blender, except for 1 TBS of the chives, the garbanzo liquid, and the salt and pepper.  After pulsing, add liquid a couple tablespoons at a time until you get the consistency you like.  Then season with salt and pepper, to taste. After you take out the hummus, fold in the rest of the chives. This adds a little texture to the hummus and their color looks nice.

TIP*: The chives I used are Chinese garlic chives, they are stronger than regular chives and they are flat, not tubular.  If you can’t find either, green onion can be substituted.

The platter I made with the roasted cauliflower and asparagus is easy and quick to prepare for a side dish or an appetizer platter for bbq or picnic.  Slice the cauliflower whole, after cutting the bottom leaves off, about 1/2″ thick.  Then put them on a sheet pan with the asparagus and drizzle extra virgin olive oil over all of them.  Then turn the vegetables around to coat them with the oil and season with coarsely ground black pepper and sea salt.  Roast under the broiler for about 7 minutes, check them and take out the asparagus and broil the cauliflower about another 3 minutes.  You can also grill the vegetables on the bbq or on a grill pan.

The leftover cauliflower and asparagus can be made into sandwiches with the hummus.  And if you made the hummus and/or the vegetables for a bbq, add in any left over meat, fish, or chicken for a really hearty sandwich.

Live and eat with aloha everyday!

I Must Look Smart When I am Shopping

Organic Cherry Tomatoes

Over the years, I have noticed that almost every time I am in a grocery store, someone approaches me with a question.  My first instinct is to say, “I don’t work here.”  I don’t think I have ever said that out loud, so my second instinct is to help in any way possible.  I thank my mother for the helping instinct and not offering a rude response.  And local people are very approachable, unlike other places I have lived.

One fellow customer did stump me the other day in the “Asian Foods” aisle.  He asked me if I knew where the “Jello without gelatin” was.  Well, I knew where the Jello was and I offered the location, but he said that he already checked there. But I was stumped.  What exactly is “Jello without gelatin”?

Assorted Jello with Gelatin

Of course, I had to go check the aisle for myself.  And the internet.  The only thing was agar-agar, which I found amongst the gelatin dessert assortment.

Jello Without Gelatin?

But I am still not convinced that was what that gentleman was looking for.  I know there are other forms of vegan and vegetarian gelatin options. I did ask him what he was using it for, but he was going from a shopping list that I am sure that his wife had wrote out for him. Hopefully he wasn’t sent back to the store!

If anyone has any ideas about what “Jello without gelatin” is, please comment below, I’m curious if I am missing out on something!

Aloha and happy shopping!

Aloha Friday

Music at the Halekulani

BBQ at Kahala Beach Park

Happy Aloha Friday!  In Hawaii every Friday is Aloha Friday, it means the end of the traditional work week and there is “no work ’til Monday”. The quote is from a song about what Aloha Friday is, so you know that it’s serious if someone wrote a song about it!

This also means for some local businesses that it’s aloha dress day.  Men wear aloha shirts instead of the traditional button-down shirts, suits and ties.  The women wear muumuus or dresses in aloha patterns instead of the usual business suits.

Locals take their weekends very seriously.  It’s a time for family to reconnect, spend time together and to see friends.  This is why on weekends, the freeways are still busy with traffic!  The beaches and parks are full and you can smell barbeques and smokers going full blast.

Rainbow and Surf off Waikiki Beach

Enjoy your Aloha Friday where ever you may be!

Asiago Fig Toast

Asiago Fig Toast

Fresh local figs are hard to come by in Hawaii.  There are figs available at the specialty grocery stores, but they are from the Mainland and very expensive. Figs remind me of summer, because growing up we always had a tree and we would pick and eat them fresh from the tree. This recipe is another way to enjoy figs, if you can’t get them fresh.

This recipe is easy and fast.  It can be eaten for breakfast, as a side to a salad or soup for lunch, as an appetizer for dinner or a cocktail party, or as a dessert.  I used a locally baked whole wheat pita bread that is thick without the usual pocket of traditional pita bread and I cut it in half.  Another bread that I like to use, and that is locally baked, is a multi-grain baguette. I would use it the same way, and cut the baguette in half length-wise.

Cutting the Pita in Half

You only need four ingredients:

Bread

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fig Butter

Asiago Cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Pita Bread, Fig Butter, Asiago Cheese

I used a “robust” olive oil, it’s not as fruity as traditional olive oils and it is good with foods that are sweeter, like the fig butter. The fig butter I bought on the Mainland, but they have it some grocery stores and in the specialty grocery stores.

Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on Each Half of Pita Bread

Drizzle the olive oil on each half of the bread, then spread the fig butter on each half and top with the asiago cheese.

Spread Fig Butter on Each Half of Pita Bread

Asiago Sprinkled on top of the Fig Butter

Toast in a 350 degree oven until the cheese has melted and the edges of the bread are golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.

And, yes, I did eat the toast pictured here for breakfast!

Shopping in Chinatown

Maunakea Marketplace

Chinatown in any city is always an experience. Here in Honolulu, the Chinatown area is a mix of new (See my post about  “Lucky Belly”) and “been here since the beginning of Chinatown”.  Maunakea Marketplace has been there pretty much when the area started.  I won’t go into the history of Chinatown, because that stuff can be “Yahoo’ed”.  I will share some finds from a recent shopping trip.  Some of these products can be bought as “omiyagi” or gifts from your travels.  They can take the place of the standard “My grandma went to Hawaii and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” souvenirs.

Assorted Jellyfish

Okay, so jellyfish that you “just add water” to is not your typical souvenir or thing to pick up at the grocery store.  When I travel, I always look for local products that will survive a luggage ride or that can be mailed home.  It’s not a locally made product and you can find it on the Mainland, but how many times are you going to be able to buy it in Hawaii and give it to your co-workers?

Live Frogs

Yes, those are frogs for sale…No, not as pets.  If you have never had fresh frog legs, it’s not as horrible as it sounds.  And they do have a taste similar to chicken.  And no, you cannot take these on the plane, or in your luggage…I would prefer to have them dressed, but other people prefer them whole to use all the parts for various dishes.

Chicken Feet

Now, these taste like chicken.  And once again, not good for “omiyagi” as with the frogs.  I am not a fan of chicken feet.  I have eaten them a few times, but I don’t go out of my way to order them or cook them.  As you can see, in Chinatown, there are a lot of fresh animal parts for sale, so those of you that are squeamish about seeing what the organs of a pig or cow look like, you have been warned.

One of the things that should be tried that is local and can be packaged to take to the Mainland is “baked manapua”. These are baked instead of steamed bao (buns).  They have many different fillings but char siu (Chinese bbq pork) is the favorite.   In Chinatown there are quite a few places to pick up fresh manapua.  Two of my favorites are: Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery and Royal Kitchen.  At either place you can ask to have your manapua packaged to go to the Mainland or outer Island.

At Sing Cheong Yuan, there are a lot of Chinese candies and treats that can be made into individual gifts, and they travel well.  The macadamia nut sesame candy is made fresh and is not to be passed up.  And make sure you make a separate package of goodies for you to eat on the plane, when I have time I have one made up with baked char siu manapua, some of the tea cakes, dried fruit and the sesame candies.

As always, if visiting Oahu, send me you questions before you travel.

Slurpees For Free

Since today the Islands are uber steamy due to several “tropical depressions”, a free Slurpee will help with those “depressions”.

Here is a link:

Free Slurpee Day 2015

Food for the Soul

Lechon on a Spit

Today my Auntie reminded me that it is my grandmother’s birthday.  She passed away only a few years ago and we still can taste her cooking as if it was yesterday. My auntie said she missed “Lola’s soul food”. She continued, “While “soul food” is usually used to describe African American cooking, “soul food” is color blind, and to me it simply means generational cooked passed on through loving family relationships.

Most people have recipes for their family’s “soul food”, but everyone has memories of the “soul food” prepared for family meals.  My siblings and I were lucky because both of my parents could cook.  Unfortunately, they never wrote anything down and didn’t refer to any cookbooks.  To this day, my sister still asks me for my mother’s sweet & sour sauce recipe, which I only know because I had watched her make it so many times.

There is always one “soul food” recipe that when you make it or you smell someone else’s version of it, it will bring back the memories of family meals and the love that was shared by all that gathered at the table.

Here is one of my “soul food” memories:

Adobong Manok – Chicken Adobo

3#       Chicken Pieces (Thighs, Whole Cut Fryer, etc.)

1/2 c   Soy Sauce

3/4 c   Apple Cider Vinegar

10 ea  Garlic Cloves, Crushed

2″ pc   Ginger, Sliced

2 ea    Bay Leaves

2 tsp   Whole Black Peppercorns

Salt to taste

Except for the salt, bring all ingredients to a boil and then simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes.  Remove lid and let simmer for another 10 minutes.  Add salt, if needed, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove chicken and strain sauce into a serving bowl, add chicken into bowl and enjoy.

Shave Ice vs. “Snow Cone”

Pineapple and Cherry
Shave Ice

“Snow cone” is like a four-letter (albeit two four-letter words) to many locals.  If you try to order a “snow cone” you might be turned away or at the very least, corrected like a Catholic school girl, minus the black dress.

In Hawaii there is shave ice available year ’round and on every Island.  The Big Island (Hawaii) it is called “ice shave”, but it is made the same way, no matter what it is called.  This local favorite can be customized with a “rainbow” of flavors or by adding ice cream, azuki beans (sweet red beans), sweetened condensed milk (snow cap), li hing powder (Chinese licorice powder) or mochi.

There are so many places to get shave ice on Oahu.  Since I am not Yelp, though I have tried a lot of different shave ice here on Oahu and one or two on the Big Island, I would check out what the locals like and try one or two of those first.  I have reviewed some of my favorites on Yelp, if you click my Yelp link, you can browse some of my reviews.

With so many places to get shave ice, you also get many different styles of shave ice. The basics are ice, flavored syrups, and/or the add-ins mentioned above. Japanese style shave ice tends to use a slushy, larger sized ice with a lot of syrup, almost like shave ice soup.  Local style is fine, soft ice and it can be made with the traditional flavored syrups or with house-made syrups made with local fruits and ingredients.  On a hot, humid day (read: everyday in Hawaii!) any style is refreshing.

My Belly Was Lucky in Chinatown

Pork Belly Bao

Chinatown in Downtown Honolulu is one of the hottest places for new restaurants and local talent (The other being Kaimuki, see previous blog mentioning KokoHead Café) to show off their skills.  A chef friend and I tried Lucky Belly on the corner of Hotel and Nuuanu Streets.

When describing the type of cuisine they serve, I would call it “New Asian”. Their food has been described as, “Asian Fusion”.  Which is not completely inaccurate, hence the beet salad…But there was not a lot of “Asian Fusion” involved in that plate.

We ordered the beet salad, lamb lumpia, pork belly bao, and the bento of the day, which was braised beef short ribs, shrimp gyoza, edamame fried rice, and a small mixed green salad (the same mix as the beet salad but with a ginger ume vinaigrette).

Boneless Braised Beef Short Rib Bento

Beet & Greens Salad and Lamb Lumpia

First off, the beet salad was our favorite, chopsticks down!  Beets layered with goat cheese, the baby mixed greens had a pomegranate vinaigrette and they were topped with candied pepito seeds.  The flavors worked so well together on that salad, it almost ruined us for the rest of the meal. I like that the salad doesn’t seem to fit the “Asian Fusion” themed menu.  Variety and not-so-hidden menu items make a meal so much more of an adventure when going out to eat.

Everything we tried was good on it’s own.  I wasn’t too impressed with the pork belly bao. They had swipe of sake hoisin, as you can see in the picture, but I think that was where all the flavor was.  Not like the lamb lumpia, where the lumpia without the sauce was delicious with crunchy cabbage and bean sprouts inside.  The dipping sauce was a roasted pepper and kochujang coulis.  Roasted Pepper coulis is old school, but add in the Korean spicy kochujang sauce and their is your fusion.  It was a sweet, spicy sauce that may have been used to marinate the lamb before they cooked and shredded it for the lumpia. And yes, that coulis is delicious, too!

Braised boneless beef rib bento…That’s a mouthful!  It was a well constructed bento “bowl”. The beef was in the kalbi style and cooked medium to medium-rare and it was resting on a bed of edamame fried rice.  I am not a fan of fried rice, but this was good.  It had a hint of garlic and ginger that made it pair well with the edamame. The greens also had a hint of ginger in the ume ginger vinaigrette that tied in nicely. There was also a large shrimp gyoza with ponzu that was on a edamame puree (see my previous blog on edamame “hummus”).  It was tasty and the ponzu was good on the edamame.

All that said, Lucky Belly is a good find in Chinatown and I hope that they keep the “fusion” going!  Here is their website address: luckybelly.com.