Pancit

Pancit is a Filipino noodle dish that I used to help Mom make on Thanksgiving morning. Because it is a time-consuming dish requiring a great deal of prep work, it was usually prepared only during the holidays or for special occassions. This is the singular dish to which I now attribute my knife skills. I cannot begin to tell you how many hours I spent over the years chopping, julienning, and cubing these ingredients.

It goes without saying that everyone who makes pancit has their own version. Mom's recipe is my absolute favorite. Her protein (shrimp, pork, chicken) to veggie (onions, carrots, snap peas, shittake mushrooms) ratio is perfect and all the ingredients meld together beautifully. Finished off with a squeeze of lemon I can eat a huge bowl of this stuff and still want more.

(Recipe forthcoming)

Banana Lumpia

Hawaii's tropical climate and the abundance of banana trees around my parent's home means constant banana goodness.

The variety they grow is called apple bananas which is different from what you normally find in the grocery store. These are short and stubby and unbelievably sweet. It's no wonder bananas are one of my favorite fruits.

Growing up I remember Mom was always looking for ways to use up the bananas whenever a bunch became ripe. I have fond memories of her banana bread and banana pancakes. I especially love her banana lumpia. We cooked some up a couple of times during this trip.

Lumpia is the Filipino version of an egg roll. They can be sweet (like these filled with banana and cinnamon sugar) or savory (filled with meat and veggies). There is definitely a technique to rolling them--you want to make sure they are tight otherwise they become a sloppy mess as you are frying them.

Yes, it saddens me to say they are fried; their one negative characteristic. I hadn't eaten anything fried months prior to this, and almost felt guilty as I consumed these crispy, golden treats. Almost.

Chicken Kalamungai (Marungai)

Tonight we tackled one of the things on my mom-needs-to-cook-while-we-are-here list. Growing up I was always her helper in the kitchen, usually washing the dishes as we cooked or prepping ingredients (chopping, peeling, etc.). However, since I've lived all of my adult life in a different city (mostly different state) I haven't had a chance to really learn her recipes. Therefore, I was determined to make it one of the priorities during this trip. So we started with her chicken kalamungai soup (a.k.a. chicken marungai and papayas). Pieces of chicken and green papayas in a savory broth flavored with tanglad (a.k.a. lemongrass) and kalamungai leaves--it is so good.

The most time-consuming step of this dish is picking the kalamungai leaves. We would usually sit around the table "talking story" while we did this so the time actually flew by. Brian pitched in to help during this step and we all enjoyed a great conversation.

Seeding and peeling the papaya also takes a little time as the skin can be difficult to work with. Once those two things are done though, it's just a matter of gathering the remaining ingredients and cooking. One item of note: the milk that oozes from the papaya when peeling can irritate the skin of some people. Luckily it isn't an issue for me.

The undisputed star of this dish is the distinctive tanglad (pronounced tahng-lahd) flavor of the soup. It is the knotted mass in the photo below and Mom has a big bush of it growing in the back yard. While the entire stalk is used, most of the flavor comes from the thick section near the base of the stalk rather than the actual leafy portion. The other key ingredient is the kalamungai leaves. It's a bit bitter when you bite it, similar to kale.

Mom, like many other great cooks, has a lot of her recipes in her head. As a result she "eyeballs" amounts instead of following a written recipe. Trying to get accurate amounts in order to document the recipe was rather challenging but I think we are close with this one.

Recipe:
3 cups kalamungai leaves, rinsed
4 green papayas, seeded-peeled-cubed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
5 lb. chicken fryer, sectioned
1 tomato, sliced
3 stalks tanglad (lemongrass)
1/2 cup patis (fish sauce)
2 Tbsp oil
handful of Hawaiian salt
pepper
garlic salt (optional)

1) In a large pot add onions to heated oil and cook until translucent

2) Add chicken and brown.

3) Add tomatoes and hot water to cover chicken. Stir and bring to a boil.

4) Add Hawaiian salt, pepper, garlic salt, tanglad, patis. Stir and bring to a boil again.

5) Once boiling add papaya and simmer until papaya is soft (about 20 minutes).

6) Add kalamungai leaves and cook for another 5 minutes.

We usually eat this served over rice with a dash of shoyu. It tastes even better the next day when the flavors have had a chance to really meld together.

Mom's home cooking

I haven't been back home to Hawaii in 5 years so I am really looking forward to this trip. I have already told Mom that I am preparing a list of things she NEEDS to cook while I am there so 1) I can learn how to make it, 2) I can take a picture of it as it's supposed to look, 3) I can satisfy these cravings I've been having for her cooking for a long time.

So here is the list so far (I reserve the right to update it as I think of more):

Chicken Kalamungai: made with green papayas, kalamungai leaves, a light broth, and of course, chicken. This is so good over rice with soy sauce. Total comfort food.

Pancit: filipino noodle dish made with shrimp, onions, carrots, and a host of other veggies. There is a lot of prep work involved with this dish but that is part of what makes it so special to me. I have fond memories of making this on Thanksgiving mornings with mom.

Patele: puerto rican dish similar to a tamale, except the masa is made from green bananas instead of corn and the inside stew meat is very different in flavor and texture. There is an enormous amount of preparation that goes into this dish requiring all-hands-on-deck-all-day. We would make many dozens of these and freeze them individually so that you could later take out just what you needed, steam them, and devour them.

Adobo: tangy, vinegary, aromatic filipino dish that smells up the whole house. There's no need to ask what's for dinner when this is cooking! Pork or chicken, it's all good.

Chicken Long Rice: shredded chicken, ginger, mushrooms, green onions, and cellophane noodles in a light broth. Another broke-da-mouth dish when served over rice with soy sauce. Mmmm.