Sonia Tastes Hawaii

Fat Tuesday...or as we call it in Hawai'i...Malasada Day!

 

Hawaii is a true melting pot.  We have a melding of as many foods, holiday traditions and observances as there are ethnic groups who call these islands home.

Back in the mid 1800’s when the early wave of Chinese, Japanese and Filipino immigrants sort of waned, and some of them had left the cane fields to start their own little enterprises, the sugar mills started bringing in Portuguese laborers from the Azores Islands. These new immigrants were Catholic and they brought their own customs and traditions with them.

One of their traditions was to make malasadas (Portuguese donuts) using up all the meat by-products (eggs, butter, milk, shortening, etc) they had left in preparation for the Lenten Season.  

Even though Fat Tuesday has been known as Malasada Day in Hawaii for many years, malasadas are now an every day treat and the most famous place on the island to find them is at Tex's Drive-In in Honoka'a.

 

Photo: Ada Pulin-Lamme, previous owner of Tex's Drive-In, cutting the malasadas before frying - taken during a food festival a few years ago

Here is one of the best malasadas recipes I have ever tried. It’s from a location about 25 miles up the coast from us, and the place where we all stop on our way up around the island when we go to the Kona or west side.

 

Photo: taken during a food festival a few years ago

MALASADAS

1-1/2 pounds flour
3 eggs
2.6 ounces butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces sugar (plus extra sugar to dust them with later)
2 (0.4 ounces) Fleischman’s Rapid Rise Yeast
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup hot water

Mix 1 egg, butter, salt and sugar in mixer, at low speed until creamy

Add flour and yeast together, hot water and 2 eggs, until dough clings to dough hook like a ball. If dough is too thin, add more flour, a tablespoon
at a time.

Let dough rise for approximately 30 minutes. Take dough from mixer and flatten out (about 1/2 inch high) on a clean, dry surface dusted with flour.

Cover with clean cloth and let it rise again for about 15 minutes.
Cut in squares. Fry in shortening at 300 degrees F until golden brown on each side.
Roll the malasadas through sugar just as they come from the oil; serve hot.

Makes 16-18 large plump pillow-like malasadas.
They can also be filled with custard, curds and fruit jams.

The recipe above is one from Tex's Drive-In as it appeared in an article in the Hawai'i Tribune-Herald a few years ago.

 

Photo credit - Tex's Drive-In Malasadas - Naomi Tomkin

 

 

 

Bistec en Cazuela

 

Made this for dinner tonight - haven't had it in a while.  Turned out wonderful!

 

 

Bistec en Cazuela is a typical Cuban meat dish - Bistec is the word for steak (actually a 'cubanized' and shortened pronunciation of beef steak) and en cazuela means in a pot or casserole.  A steak you cook in a pot instead of grilling or broiling, in other words.

 

This dish can also be made in the pressure cooker.

 

2 6-8 oz sirloin steaks, lean, thin-cut (*)

1/2 lime, juiced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 teaspoon cumin, ground

1 bay leaf, whole

2-oz tomato sauce

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 Tablespoon sliced Spanish olives (optional)

salt, to taste

 

 

 

 

The steaks need to be cut very thin; sprinkle with the lime juice, cover and set in refrigerator for at least half an hour and no more than 1 hour.

 

In a skillet, with the stove set to medium, add oil, onions, garlic, cumin, bay leaf and tomato sauce so as to create what we call a "sofrito". Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes or until desired consistency.

Add the steaks for another 2 minutes. Add the wine, olives (if using), and salt. Stir thoroughly and if you feel you want to add a little bit more of any one ingredient, feel free.

 

Cover and cook on medium low for 10 minutes. Serve with white fluffy rice or creamy mashed potatoes.

 

(*) Other less expensive cuts of meat can be served with you add more liquid and cook the meat a bit longer to make it tender.

 

 

Talking about Fruitcake...in February ?

 

I picked up a little book at the Hilo Library a friend had recommended after we were discussing fruitcakes...how some people love them and some absolutely hate them (or claim to hate them) and I mentioned that my very first taste of fruitcakes came about when someone sent us a 'popular commercial brand' as a gift during one Christmas that frankly, I would have used as a doorstop...It was heavy, dark and dry. That fruitcake could have led me to really hate fruitcakes.

 

I told my friend that since that first fruitcake, I have made it a point to find good fruitcake recipes...and I now have a small collection of recipes saved in my computer documents...Some were good, some indifferent and some not so good ;-)

 

Anyway, this little story came with three non-traditional fruitcake recipes that actually sound interesting and I think I might try making at least one of them.

 

The beginning of each chapter starts with a fruitcake related quote by a chef or foodie personality...I was thrilled to see a quote on Chapter 14th, by someone I actually knew...

 

"Those who don't like fruitcake have never had a white fruitcake"...

 

and the quote's author is Nathalie Dupree, cookbook author and television personality

 

Of course I had to do a search for her white fruitcake and found several mentions; the one below from the Washington Post website

 

DEC 5, 2012

One of Nathalie Dupree's editors at Atlanta Magazine gave her this recipe years ago, after she revealed herself to be anti-fruitcake. She fell in love with it. "This one will be eaten, not re-gifted," she says.

Make Ahead: The cakes can be tightly wrapped and stored at room temperature for 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months.

You can click the link for the recipe.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/white-fruitcake/13108/?utm_term=.aea45ece1470

 

 

 

 To date, the best fruitcake I have ever made was one I came up with by combining a couple of recipes, and the method used by a Jamaican client when I owned a kitchen shop in the Miami Lakes, FL area... using tropical fruits instead of the traditional citron.

 

 

 

 

 

My absolutely deliciously moist Island Tropical Fruitcake appeared in the November - December 2013 issue of Ke Ola Magazine .

 

 

 

 

In case you're interested in reading the little book that started this post, the title is 'There is Something About Christmas' and the author is Debbie Macomber.

 

 

 

May all your fruitcakes be delicious, moist and tropical fruitful!

 

Did you say Garlic Soup?

When my husband and I visited Spain in 1987, one of the dishes I fell in love with was garlic soup...I had never heard of it and found it on the menu in both Northern Portugal, during a very short visit across the Minho River and also in the northern regions of Andorra on the border between Spain and France.  Not sure why the coincidence of finding it near two different borders, but there you have it...

I've tried to reproduce it several times and also found some recipes in one of my Portuguese cookbooks.  I played with the recipes and came up with a couple of versions...This is the simplest

Sopa de Ajo  - Garlic Soup

This soup is very popular in the northern parts of Portugal and northeastern Spanish-Basque areas close to the Pyrenees and Andorra. It is a very strong tasting and rich soup due to the amount of garlic and butter. You may wish to sauté the garlic in less butter, or cut the amount of garlic used. I love it as is.
Serves 4-6 people

A whole large head of garlic, each clove peeled and mashed
1/2 a large yellow onion, sliced very thinly
1/4 lb butter
6 cups of chicken or beef broth (I prefer chicken for this)
Salt and freshly ground white peppercorns to taste (*)
1 piece of bread, toasted, per person- can be cubed
1 raw egg per person (* optional)

In a large saucepan, sauté the mashed garlic and sliced onion slowly in the butter. Don't let the garlic turn brown and bitter.
When onions are translucent transfer garlic, onions and butter to a food processor or blender or press/mash them through a fine mesh sieve.

Add a small amount of broth and process until onion and garlic mix is all smooth. Return to saucepan and add the rest of the broth and seasonings.
If you would like it creamier, substitute some of the broth for half and half or cream.

Place a piece of toast (or cubes) in each bowl and break an egg over it. Ladle the hot soup over the egg and toast.

(*) I use my homemade (unsalted) chicken broth, but if using commercial broths, taste before adding salt.  If using the raw egg, be sure you know the source and that the eggs are safe - you can also use a poached egg if you wish.

 

Buen Provecho!

Bom Proveito!