Onna's Cold Ginger Chicken

Chicken on the left simmered for 45 min. (well-done) Chicken on the right, 30 min. (pinkish and a bit underdone, the way most Chinese eat it)

My friend, Elsie, hosted a Chinese New Year's gathering last week which included a demo of four Chinese dishes by her housekeeper/cook Onna Liang. Onna is from Guandong with solid cooking cred. Her son cooks for and owns Aloha Barbecue on Kapahulu Ave. and her husband works at a restaurant as well. We were fascinated as we watched her whip up Cold Ginger Chicken, Eggplant and Tofu in Black Bean Sauce, Chao'd Pumpkin and Fried Rice for 20 people in under 2 hours.

The Cold Ginger Chicken is an ubiquitous dish on Chinese restaurant menus but Onna's was truly outstanding. I always knew that the restaurants must either have access to exceptional ingredients (super tender, fresh chicken from a farm?) or specialized techniques to make the chicken so meltingly tender and with so much flavor. Turns out it's the latter.

Use the HECO recipe(from the Hawaiian Electric Company's website) below but add these tips.

This is what we learned from Onna:
1.) Simmer the chicken (instead of turning off the heat) in 1/4 c. of Hawaiian salt, and a stockpot 2/3 full of water for 45 min. This Hot Brine plumps the chicken and flavors it perfectly.
2.) Whiz the ingredients in a Cuisinart until it is a fine puree. I'd always chopped it up fine but the puree is much better. Optional: Im sai, Chinese parsley and sesame seed oil for the sauce.
3.) Pour 1/4 c. of oil in a saucepan and heat the sauce on Med., stirring constantly for 2 min. before serving.
The chicken was delicious warm with the hot sauce.

These tips together produced the best Ginger Chicken I'd ever had from a home kitchen. It was indistinguishable from chicken from a good Chinese restaurant. I was very pleased at my first try at duplicating Onna's dish. However, still tinkering with the amount of Hawaiian salt because while I do want the advantages of what I call a Hot Brine, I also want a stock leftover that is not rendered inedible by the salt.

Cold Ginger Chicken
Demonstrated by: 2002 2nd Princess Sherri Seto
Ingredients
1 whole (3 to 5 lb) chicken fryer, Water, 1 cup cubed ginger root, 4 to 5 green onions, cut into 2-inch lengths, 3/4 cup salad oil, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
Clean and trim excess fat from chicken. Fill a large stockpot 1/2 full of water; bring water to a boil. Add chicken and additional water, if necessary, to completely cover the chicken. Cover and bring water to a boil again. Turn off heat and let stand for 1 hour. Remove chicken from pot and drain. Cover chicken and refrigerate until chilled. Cut chicken into 2 x 1-inch pieces; place in serving dish. Combine ginger and green onions in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add oil, salt, and pepper; chill. To serve, pour ginger mixture over chicken or serve ginger mixture in a separate bowl. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

-foodiewahine

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Simple Soothing Chicken Soup

Sometimes nothing is more satisfying than a bowl of homemade, from scratch soup. Last week I was down with the flu and my stomach still was not 100% up to par. I'd been given gai choy (mustard cabbage) that had been picked from my friend, Elsie's, garden just hours before. The gift of gai choy immediately made me think of local oxtail soup with its rich steaming broth, the mustard cabbage and the dried peanuts. But, too rich. So my fall back plan turned out perfect- a simple chicken soup with gai choy. Locavore fare. And as a bonus, Science has proven Mother right. Chicken soup has antibiotic qualities.

I think, I know, what elevated this soup was using Edna Lewis' technique of gently coddling the chicken, coaxing the juices out. Her technique is in her book "In Pursuit of Flavor" It's faster, simpler and way more flavorful than boiling chicken for hours.

This is how I did it and I included brands because I believe they make a difference. Mostly I've been cooking with a dry Sherry but when I tried making a chao'd dish with whiskey in the marinade I instantly knew that that was the distinctive ingredient that my Mom and Aunties used. I made this Soup a bit more Asian than Edna's original version, although I used her technique. If you read the recipe through once you will see it is quite simple and endlessly adaptable to whatever soup vegetable is available. On the second try you won't even need to reread the recipe.

Simple Soothing Chicken Soup with Gai Choy

Thaw 2 pounds of chicken thighs in water with 1/4 c. of Hawaiian salt. If using fresh chicken, use the same water-salt mixture (brine) and leave in the fridge for 1/2 hour. Drain and rinse chicken. Discard water-salt mixture. Marinate the chicken in 1/4 c. Kikkoman or Yamasa shoyu and 2 T. of Seagram's 7 whiskey for at least 1/2 hour. Pat the chicken dry but reserve the marinating liquids.

Brown the chicken and 2 slices, pounded, of ginger in a soup pot with 2 T. of oil. Stir briskly with a wooden spoon for 5 min. on Med-High. Turn down to a high simmer and cover pot. Let it simmer for 15 min. Check to see if the juices from the chicken have started to come halfway up the sides of the chicken pieces. If not, turn the heat up a notch. Add 2 c. of water and the marinating liquids. Let this simmer for another 15-20 min. Check to see if the chicken if fully cooked, if not, simmer for another couple of minutes. Remove the chicken and debone. Chop the chicken into large 2" pieces.

At this point, you can make the Soup right away or you can keep the stock and chicken in separate plastic containers in the fridge or freeze them so that you have both deboned chicken and stock on hand. The stock will be so concentrated that you may want to add more water when you use it.

To make the Soup, add the deboned chicken back into the stock and heat. Chop the gai choy into 1" widths. Add the green stalks first, let that cook for 1 min., add the leaves. Let that cook for another minute and the soup is ready to savor.

You can use most any type of soup vegetables, instead of or in addition to the gai choy-bok choy, wong bok, watercress, sauteed carrots or mushrooms.

-foodiewahine

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Chinese New Year falls on Valentine's Day this year. There will be a number of events revolving around Chinese food that I'll be blogging on this month. Gung Hee Fat Choy!

Mahalo, Wanda!

My buddy, Wanda Adams', food blog, sponsored by the Honolulu Advertiser, is called My Island Plate. Her posting today, Feb. 1, is all about becoming a better baker. She graciously included some of my favorite baking/freezing tips and a number from my friend, Tina Ho Wing. Tina is a culinary arts instructor at Glendale High School in California. Thank you, too, Tina, for generously sharing all your top secret tips with me all these years!

Last week, Wanda innocently asked me "What's up?" I went into a big discussion about my passion, baking, because of the Tea we'd recently had. There's lots of food events on the horizon. I recently baked a mess of brownies for a fundraiser for my Kalamas' church group from Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay. Punahou Carnival is this weekend and bonus! both Chinese New Year's (two banquets) and Valentine's are on the same day this year, Feb. 14. Also, two Chinese New Year's food demos are in the works. Our talk turned from events to baking technique and tips. Hence, the blog.

I really appreciated that Wanda gave me a nod for my baking and freezing tips and mentioned this blog. Those are the tips that have greatly assisted me in my baking.

-foodiewahine
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Photos above
On the left are Brownies I decorated for the fundraiser with a chocolate glaze.
On the right is the latest iteration of my "Heart to Heart" dessert. I described it in the previous blog. It has a brownie base, liliko'i curd, pound cake heart, more curd, whipped cream and sprinkles.
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My Island Plate My Island Plate blog, honoluluadvertiser.com ...
Musings, tips, recipes and ideas from Advertiser food editor Wanda Adams, and a chance to share your own thoughts.myislandplate.honadvblogs.com/
Another way: To find Wanda's blog, go to the Hnl. Advertiser website. Hit the Forum/Blogs icon at the top. It will take you to the Lifestyles blogs and hers, My Island Plate.

Elsie's Excellent Tea

Nothing like a party for a little lift during these days of earthquakes, the Haiti relief effort, aftershocks. severe weather everywhere... My friends, Elsie and Cathy, and I threw together a little Tea yesterday at Elsie's home. Cathy brought a yummy, flaky, warm!, cinnamony, raisin-apple coffee cake. Elsie made a fresh, coconutty and chewy gau. I made a pound cake heart-brownie-liliko'i curd tower. It was good to sit with friends and sip some of Elsie's amazing jasmine tea from China. We talked old-old recipes, Hawaiian Electric cooking classes and technique the whole time.

Elsie's wonderful housekeeper from China, Onna, spontaneously showed us how to make black bean bittermelon with pork and a glazed pumpkin dish in a wok. AND we got to take home samples, enough for a large lunch the next day. In about 20 minutes Onna had three heaping plates of food ready. It was amazing to watch her stir fry two-handed with spatulas: toss and turn, toss and turn.

Elsie generously shared a box of community and school cookbooks with us. Cathy and I happily plopped on the floor like kids and pored through the bin. Many treasures there, but my absolute favorite was finding the last Maili Yardley (beloved longtime food editor at the Honolulu Advertiser) cookbook out of five that she wrote. All of these are out of print. This was the one that I've looked for for years. Elsie is a force of nature and willing to give you the shirt off her back. Once we discovered these wonderful titles she kidded that she'd sell it to us for a million dollars. We said we'd exchange our labor for the price.

This is Hawai'i: On the leisurely drive back from Elsie's home, my tummy and car filled with goodies, I drove the Waimanalo way. That is, past the Lookout where you can watch whales leap, past Makapu'u and Waimanalo. One chocolate and one cream colored horse with their teenage riders ambling on the side of the road. The Mary Bonita Mexican lunchwagon advertising Garlic Shrimp along with their tamales. Only in Hawai'i.

-foodiewahine

Naki Family of Moloka'i

OC16, a local tv channel, has started to show and replay a "Skindiver" episode this week about Moloka'i featuring two brothers, Walter and Raymond Naki. There are two families in particular on Moloka'i that everyone on the island knows or are related to- the Nakis and the Dudoits.

I am very fortunate that I know the Naki family through its matriarch, Juanna ("Auntie JoJo") Naki Pi'iali'i. JoJo is one of those rare joyous salt-of-the-earth people. She is a strong Christian and her favorite phrase is "Thank You, Jesus!" I felt an instant heart connection to her when I met her on the Big Island with Auntie Dutchie, oh, fifteen years ago. I was giving a retreat based on the teachings of Nana Veary and Auntie Dutchie agreed to be a guest speaker.

Walter is Auntie JoJo's son and Raymond is Auntie JoJo's youngest brother. They are close in age so they were brought up together on Moloka'i like brothers. Auntie JoJo's father, the pastor and founder of "The Gospel Shoes of Christ" church outside of Kaunakakai, taught his boys all the secret places on the island and in the sea to fish and hunt. Walter has a business appropriately called "Ma'a (familiar with) Hawai'i" where he takes visitors on hunting, fishing and boating trips around the island.

I won't forget that Auntie JoJo told me proudly when I first met her that when the Nakis have a luau or pa'ina on Molokai'i that they have the most crashers (so cute!) because everyone knows that they have the best fishermen and hunters in Walter and Raymond. They, along with their sons and nephews, will start stocking the freezers with fish, lobsters, crabs, hihiwai (freshwater opihi)and game for weeks before the event.

Getting back to that episode, I was just so touched to hear Walter and Raymond speak movingly of their Hawaiian stewardship of their island home's bounty. Walter talked about taking what they need, not what they want, and sharing the rest. When he drives home he might come across a less fortunate fisherman and he would offer part of his catch to him. He talked of sharing with the kupuna who love to fish but maybe "no can already". This is Moloka'i style, their culture.

Raymond is active in restoring the ancient Hawaiian fishponds on the island. Both brothers have quietly helped scores of previously troubled youths who have become ohana. Auntie Ruthie (JoJo's sister) told me that she came across a young man she didn't know, who told her that his "Dad" was Walter because the young man had hanai'd Walter (usually it's the other way around with the adult adopting the child, of course).

On this episode Raymond said "We care and share. We live to give." To hear Raymond say it, it is simple but profound.

The shots on this show are astonishing. It shows both guys free diving down to 20 or 30 feet or more. Then incredibly it shows them waiting patiently, all the while holding their breath, for the perfect shot of their prey. This is old style, no scuba gear, no metal rods, using wood spear guns although I did notice they had the latest fins. I don't know how much time it took to do the filming but it shows them gathering Kahala, Opelu, Moana Kea, He'e... and going after Ula (lobster, also affectionately called "Bugs"), Ulua and Uhu.

As I've said several times before I feel honored to know such interesting and passionate people in these Islands, our home.

Julie & Julia- an experience

Very blessed. I am very blessed. My buddy, Wanda Adams, food editor at the Honolulu Advertiser, invited me to an advance screening of the movie "Julie & Julia" last night. Chef Mavro has a connection to the theater and was able to invite his 100 or so closest friends and food associates and their friends to a showing. Chef Mavro and his wife, Donna, are very tight with Wanda, so my degree of separation was once removed.

In two words, Loved It.

Recommendations:
1.) See it with a friend who is as passionate about food as you are.
2.) Either eat before you see the movie or anticipate a good meal after.

Nora Ephron directed and wrote the screenplay. That alone should get you to come. She's done many of everyone's favorite movies-When Harry Met Sally, Michael, Moonstruck, and of course, Sleepless in Seattle.

The movie is based on two books based on real life and separated by fifty years- an autobiography of Julia Child and a recent bestseller about a blogger turned writer, Julie Powell, who tackled all 524 recipes in Julia's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 365 days.

Backstory. I, along with millions, consider Julia an important cooking mentor. The liner notes for the book "The French Chef" calls her famous cooking show the "most widely attended cooking course ever given in America." I was right there at the tv in the early 60's, fascinated by this honest, real woman dispensing invaluable tips with flair, humor and grace. Reassured by Julia's warble, my first recipe that I attempted from Julia's book was Boeuf Bourguinon. Wanda said that was often the first choice of other cooks.

I avidly followed Julia's rise to fame and her life in the culinary universe. Read everything about her with interest. Collected her books. When the butter police came down hard in the 80's it was Julia, a voice of reason, that countermanded "Butter is Good. Everything in Moderation." I probably smirked along with Julia when it was discovered that margarine was the enemy and butter, less so. I knew of Julia's enduring love story with Paul Child, a marriage that lasted fifty-four years. I drilled my friend Tina for details when I found out that Julia had been a guest speaker at the culinary school in LA where Tina got her degree.

The Movie.
I was as excited to see this movie as I was about "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" last week when I snuck into a matinee. (To my surprise, the whole theater was filled not with shrieking kids on summer break but ADULTS. Adults like me besotted with the HP books and the movie series.)

So, both Wanda and I were kind of bouncing in our seats. Wanda found the extra long seats uncomfortable for her petite frame so she tried sitting backwards for fun. A friend on her right said "You look like you're six!" Chef Alan Wong was sitting on the opposite end of our row. The Culinary Institute of the Pacific team from KCC that won a national competition last week, beating out 400 teams, was in the house. Chef Mavro spoke briefly and in his ebullient way told charming stories of meeting both Julia and Jacques Pepin.

From the first frames of a Woody station wagon and Paris in the early part of the 20th century, we were totally engaged. So engaged that the whole audience would gasp when culinary giants like Simone Beck's or Irma Rombauer's characters appeared. So engaged that we'd actively scrutinize each food porn/money shot to see how they filmed it. So engaged that it felt as though we were scarfing down the glistening tomato bruschetta right along with Julie's husband, Eric.

Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia was right....on....point.
Amy Adams made blogger/author Julie Powell your newest foodie BFF.
Wanda's astute comment was that there were layers to the film. She said that those who know publishing and those who work in food will appreciate the honest portrayals.

Throughout the film I wondered who did the food and who did the the food styling because they did a superlative job. When the movie was pau, I asked Wanda if she knew anything about the food prep and she said that she will be interviewing the food stylist for the movie by phone today. That means, lucky us!, Wanda will be doing an article in the near future in the Honolulu Advertiser.

The two stories were seamlessly melded together with a completely satisfying and sweet ending. I won't tell you anything about the plot nor spoil any surprises. Go see it. Anyone who eats will enjoy it.
Shall I say it, so very trite?
You will hear Julia's high-pitched and passionate command trilling
"Bon Appetit!"

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Charles, Tess and Marian,
Below is a link to Wanda's article re: the food stylist who did the movie. It's an interesting read.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090802/LIFE/908020318/Styling+the+real+star+of++Julia+++delicious+dishes