Aloha HOs! We’re getting tropical this summer for COTQ with HAWAIIAN/POLYNESIAN. From Spam musubi to salmon poke, I’m here for it. What kind of island magic will you be cooking up this quarter?
I live in Hawaii, and cook “local”, aka Hawaiian food all of the time. Whenever I travel away from the islands, the first thing I want when I get back is local food. Hawaii is a cultural melting pot, so our cuisine is made up of cuisines from the ethnic groups that make up Hawaii
This morning, I had the classic local breakfast, eggs rice and portuguese sausage…My wife is the spam lover in the house, I’m just not fond of it.
There’re a lot of good resources out there for Hawaii food recipes, and cookbook writers, most noted are Sheldon Simeon and Sam Choy…both have a knack for taking a recipe and putting the Hawaiian spin on it. Sam Choy’s beef stew, kalbi ribs, and Portuguese bean soup are staple recipes at our house. He has a long running cooking show which airs every sunday evening here.
I’m interested to hear what others think of Hawaiian food, and am more than happy to chime in with opinions or advice on Hawaiian food, recipes, if you wish to know.
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Throw me a good garlic shrimp recipe like you can get from the trucks on the North Shore (waves to Giovanni’s).
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I had an amazing 13 night trip to Maui, Kauai and Oahu in May 2019.
I tried my best to try as many local dishes as I could. Luckily, my first 6 days were with cousins who know Maui well, and are even more into food than I am. I was able to stay at a small cabin neat Makawao for the first 4 nights.
We dined at Lineage at Wailea one night. That was my belated birthday dinner fory cousins. That’s also where I tried my first of many spam musubis on the trip. My cousin sent me Sheldon Simeon’s cookbook during the Pandemic, and I’ll be starting there for my recipes this next 3 months.
We also enjoyed a meal at Star Noodle in Lahaina.
I also have 2 other older Hawaiian cookbooks and several Polynesian cookbooks. I’ll take photos of their covers when I get a chance.
My last fancy meal was a tasting menu at Alan Wong’s in Honolulu. It closed in 2020. A friend and former Chowhound recommended it. Maybe the best tasting menu I’ve enjoyed as a solo diner, and the best tasting menu I have had in the past 15 years.
I make a Loco Moco a couple of times a year. Costco frozen burger patty makes it extra easy….make a pan gravy, fry an egg…have rice on hand.
One day I will dig an emu and roast a pig.
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Not wabi, but I have made this recipe and love it:
I don’t think I had this dish when we were in Hawaii so I’d be curious to know if it’s a faithful rendition!
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The NYT recipe is pretty authentic, my only comment is that you can use AP flour instead of the mochiko flour which is a sweet rice flour.
The cayenne and paprika add some flavor. Use butter AND olive oil so you dont burn the butter, how much garlic you use if up to how much garlic you’re willing to mince…just dont burn it in the butter. Shells on or shells off the shrimp is up to you…so easy with the shells on. It’s a dish that is meant to have some messiness to it.
You gotta have it with rice to soak up all of that buttery garlic flavor.
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Concur - I have used both AP and mochiko flour and haven’t noticed a huge difference . Glad to know this is a fairly authentic version!
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My sole contribution is Hawaiian Mac Salad via NYT (gift link). I can’t vouch for authenticity, but I agree with the author that this version calls for a carp-ton of mayo! Needless to say, we ate it all.
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Love love love having a resident expert on COTQ. Chime away! I’ve never been to Hawaii (on the bucket list, though) so I’m very eager to learn more about what makes this cuisine special and craveable!
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I’ve only been to Maui, loved it. Nearly every day all I wanted to eat was a shrimp plate from a famous food truck. (I’ll admit, I really love shrimp.)
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Jenny’s. Best garlic shrimp I ever had. It’ll likely be the first dish I enter here, having somewhat reverse engineered it after our trip to O’ahu in '23.
Here’s what I did in Dec '23 after returning from O’ahu and craving them something fierce:
I didn’t follow any specific recipe & just looked at a few for inspo 
I tossed shell-on black tiger shrimp in flour seasoned with s&p and hot Hungarian paprika, then fried them up in TPSTOGAG (ghee and garlic) with a couple tablespoons of Turkish hot pepper paste added for heat. My sweets supplied the rice to soak up all that spicy, garlicky, buttery goodness.
I wasn’t a fan of the flour, even if it allegedly helps the sauce stick to the shells better, and there wasn’t enough sauce for the rice to soak it up. Spice level could’ve also been higher. Roasted broc with lemon on the side.
Not bad for a first, but not perfect yet, either.
I should really try to make them again, and as luck would have it, I know I have a bunch of BTS in the freezer 
Go when you have a chance. My cousins had invited me for years.
I am so glad I finally went.
I’m not big on rice and LURVED having those mounds covered in spicy garlicky butter.
I made this last year I think. It’s very good!
I had some Good Seasons packets that I used for the Italian dressing called for. You could probably use oil, red wine vinegar, extra garlic, and some Italian seasoning though if you needed to improvise.
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Does Guam count for Polynesian? If so:
Minced or ground beef, tomatoes, green beans, and coconut milk. Hot sauce at the table. This dish is named for the sound of the knife on the cutting board as it minces the beef!
You can use canned or fresh vegetables depending on what you have on hand.
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Yes, Guam definitely counts!
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That looks delicious
Thanks! While beef is the most common, I’ve read it can be made with just about any minced protein, so chicken or pork, etc. would work here too (I will probably try shrimp or salmon at some point, adjusting the cook time). It’s very easy to get on the table on a weeknight!
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