Dec 02
Tender pieces of beef coated in a sweet-savory teriyaki marinade and grilled until caramelized around the edges make these easy teriyaki beef skewers perfect for summer cookouts, weeknight dinners, and casual parties. The marinade combines soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, honey, fresh ginger, and garlic. As the skewers hit the hot grill, the sugars begin …
Nov 18
Fresh cubes of ʻahi tuna, savory shoyu, nutty sesame oil, sweet onion, and green onion come together in this simple Hawaiʻi-style poke recipe. There is no complicated cooking technique and no long list of toppings—the quality of the fish and the balance of the seasonings do most of the work. Poke has deep roots in …
Nov 11
Tender chicken thighs simmered in a sweet-savory mixture of shoyu, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic make shoyu chicken one of Hawaiʻi’s most comforting local dishes. The chicken absorbs the salty-sweet sauce as it cooks, creating a simple meal that is especially good spooned over hot white rice. Shoyu chicken reflects the multicultural food traditions that …
Nov 04
Smoky grilled chicken, a sticky sweet-savory glaze, fresh ginger, garlic, and caramelized pineapple make this huli huli-style chicken an irresistible backyard barbecue recipe. The chicken marinates in a shoyu-and-pineapple mixture before hitting the grill, where repeated turning and glazing create beautifully browned edges and plenty of flavor. Huli huli chicken is a genuine Hawaiʻi local …
Oct 28
Thin beef short ribs marinated in shoyu, Asian pear, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and sesame oil are grilled over high heat until tender, smoky, and beautifully caramelized. These Korean kalbi ribs cook surprisingly quickly, making them perfect for backyard barbecues, family dinners, and Hawaiʻi-style plate lunches. Kalbi—also commonly romanized as galbi—means ribs in Korean. The …
Oct 18
Poke has traveled an extraordinary distance from the fishing communities of Hawaiʻi to supermarket counters, restaurants, and customizable bowl shops around the world. Today, the word may bring to mind cubes of ahi arranged over rice with avocado, cucumber, spicy mayonnaise, and an assortment of toppings, but the roots of poke are much simpler—and distinctly …
Oct 14
Tender, juicy pork seasoned simply with Hawaiian sea salt and a touch of smoke is the heart of kālua pork. Traditionally, kālua pig is cooked slowly in an imu, a Hawaiian underground oven heated with hot stones. The result is deeply tender pork that can be pulled into fine shreds and served alongside poi, lomi …
Oct 07
A mound of hot white rice topped with a juicy hamburger patty, rich brown gravy, and a fried egg may sound simple, but together those four ingredients create one of Hawaiʻi’s best-loved comfort foods: loco moco. Born in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island in the late 1940s, loco moco is a distinctly local creation rather than …
Sep 30
Juicy chicken wrapped in a light, shatteringly crisp panko crust makes chicken katsu one of the most satisfying fried cutlets you can make at home. Serve it Japanese-style with shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce, or turn it into a Hawaiʻi-style plate lunch with steamed white rice, macaroni salad, and plenty of katsu sauce. Chicken katsu …
Sep 23
A steaming bowl of curly noodles in a light, savory broth topped with green onions, kamaboko, char siu, egg, or slices of Spam is one of Hawaiʻi’s great comfort foods. This is saimin, a noodle soup born in Hawaiʻi’s plantation era from the meeting of several immigrant food traditions. Saimin isn’t ramen, pho, or simply …
