1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup Japanese rice vinegar

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients into a salad bottle container.  I use the Tupperware salad mixer bottle and shake like crazy, then put in a spare salad dressing bottle.    Refrigerate.

Toss in a bowl with cut or shredded lettuce, cooked chicken bits like shredded Costco roast chicken, and wun ton strips.  Yum!

Optional:  add Chinese parsley, walnuts, char siu to salad.

This is a really great light dressing that makes THE best oriental chicken salad.  Somehow it tastes healthy too!

Aunty also uses it on the uber easy super ono watercress tofu salad.  Cut small (about 1/2 – 3/4″) cubes from a drained block of firm tofu.  Lay on the bottom of a salad bowl.  Make sure that most of the water is drained or absorbed from it unless you like it watery.  Open and drain a can of tuna and spread over the tofu layer.  Over this, lay on 1″ or longer fresh cut watercress, including the stalks if desired.  When ready to serve, pour the salad dressing over without mixing.  Serve with tongs.

Kudos for the recipe to one of the baseball moms we knew – very sorry, but Aunty has misplaced her name.  She is tall, thin, had short hair, was super nice.

My favorite way to eat fish.  Just make sure there are no scales left on the skin if you are steaming whole fish.  I once bought fish fillets from Whole Foods – Chilean Sea Bass.  Unreal good stuff.  Costed a lot though.  Sometimes you have to spoil yourself and get the best.

STEAMED FISH

Sprinkle salt on cleaned fish (or fillet), lay stalks of green onion over.  Place in steamer or wrap with foil, and put in pan of water.  Boil water until fish is done.  To check,  poke a chopstick or toothpick in center.  If it comes out “clean”, fish is done.

Put fish on a bed of chopped Chinese parsley or pak choi if desired.  Put lots of Chinese parsley over the fish too.

Sauce:

In a small fry pan, heat up about 1/4- 1/2 cup of peanut oil, add in lots of chopped garlic, ginger, green onion.  Stir on medium high heat until garlic & onion are cooked.  Add about 1/4 – 1/2 cup of shoyu (optional:  add a little water), stir, bring heat up high so this mixture starts smoking a little.  Pour over fish.

Oil:

Most important part – rinse out and dry completely the small fry pan.  Heat up pan to make sure there is no moisture in remaining.  Put about 1/4 cup or less of peanut oil in hot pan, turn up heat to high until the oil is smoking a lot.  Pour hot oil over the prepared fish.

This part is messy because the oil will sizzle upon contact with fish, so put newspapers or something around the plate for easier cleanup.

Eat hot.  Yum!

Uncle says this recipe is the best one.  I got this from the Hilo Women’s Country cookbook.  They must have good cooks over in Hilo.  When Uncle catches oio, I make fishcake, but first he has the harder job of skinning, then spooning the meat off the fish.  I then go in with my hands and fingers and pick out any bones he may have missed.  Uncle says he doesn’t mind the bits of bones.  How can that be?  I think it must be true that men are from Mars.  Us Venusians want bone-less fishcake.

Fishcake

3 cups fish meat scraped or ground (awa or oio)
1 cup cornstarch
6 tsp salt
6 Tblsp sugar
1/2 tsp ajinomoto
3 eggs
3 1/2 cup fish stock or chicken broth or water
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped ham, carrots, and green onion

Beat eggs.  Add salt, sugar, ajinomoto and cornstarch.  Add to fish meat gradually with fish stock.  When all liquid is used and the mixture is smooth, add the chopped ham, carrots, green onions and mix well with a spoon.  Fry in deep oil until lightly brown.

Option – can use peas, spam, lup cheong, etc.

I like to use my Fry Daddy to deep fry.  Easy, fast.

10 lbs raw shelled, cleaned jumbo shrimp, pat dry

1 bottle mayonnaise

1 bottle oyster sauce

LOTS of chopped garlic  5-8 heads of garlic

1/4 cup whiskey

1/4 cup vodka

dash of cayenne powder to taste

Put chopped garlic in mixing bowl.  Add mayonnaise, oyster sauce, whiskey, vodka, and cayenne and mix with a spoon or spatula.  Add shrimp.  Marinate for at least 2 hours, and up to 48 hours in refrigerator.  Grill over outside hibachi until golden brown.  Enjoy!

Kudos for the recipe to Ken and Rene Nakamura, from baseball potluck days.  We always looked forward to their fantastic shrimp hot off the grill!

Almost like Maui’s Guri Guri ice cream, just more accessible and rather economical.

1 can condensed cream

1 can 7 up

1 can strawberry soda (or whatever flavor you like best)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl that can freeze.  Put in the freezer.  Stir every half hour until frozen – takes about 6 hours.  Scoop into smaller cups, enjoy.

Mahalo Barry and Cynthia!

I remember savoring the smell and hearing the crackling sounds of the chicken in the oven as it sat and cooked when I lived with my mother, aka Grannie to our kids.  Make sure you have a self cleaning oven because this is not the neatest of recipes.

Wash and pat dry a whole chicken.  Throw garlic salt, pepper, rock salt, whatever into cleaned out cavity.  Apply garlic salt, pepper, and rock salt to outside of chicken also.

Preheat oven to 450º.  Put seasoned chicken breast side up in glass roasting pan and bake for 45 minutes at 450º.  After the initial 45 minutes, turn oven off, and do not open the oven door until 45 more minutes have passed.

Remove from oven, chicken will be sizzling hot.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing to serve.  I sometimes use the drippings to make gravy after, but usually not.  I just dig in and grind.  Moist inside, crispy outside, delicious through and through!

Another great recipe for the measuring challenged cooks.  Coach Hae, one of the winningest AYSO coaches is also a great cook always willing to share.  Here’s another winner from her.

Marinate boneless skinless chicken thighs in a sauce of 1 cup miso, 1 cup shoyu, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup beer.

Grill over charcoal fire and enjoy the subtle delicious taste.  So good, Uncle doesn’t mind giving up some of his beer for this dish.

1 medium head cabbage
1 medium head mustard cabbage
1/4 cup Hawaiian salt
2 T roasted sesame seed
Ajinomoto (or not)

Sauce:      1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
chili pepper to taste

Chop vegetables to 1/2” size.  Put in large container, sprinkle salt and mix well.  Leave for 30 minutes.  Squeeze out excess water, add roasted (in pan) sesame seeds and ajinomoto (or not).

Boil sauce.  Pour hot sauce over vegetables, mix well.  Let sit for 3-4 hours, then refrigerate.  Enjoy with rice.  My favorite meal is ochazuke rice, fried Portuguese sausage dipped in soy sauce and catsup, and yatsume zuke…

From Senen Pousa of ProphetMax* – a green smoothie that sounds wonderful:

1 fresh ripe avocado
1 tsp vegetable oil, cold pressed
12 oz. water and 2-3 ice cubes
1 banana
1 cup carrot juice
1.5 cups pineapple
2 inches cucumber
1/2 stalk celery
1/2 small bunch mint
2 cups spinach (substitute kale, collards, chard)
1 TB raw cacao nibs or tsp chlorella

Blend for 1/2 minute to smoothie consistency and drink to your good health!

More green smoothie recipes can be found on Victoria Boutenko’s website (requiring an easy log in):  http://greensmoothiesblog.com/recipes

*[update note:  Senen Pousa of ProphetMax is currently under investigation for his involvement in the loss of millions of investor funds, so Aunty is not recommending him in any way.  However, this smoothie does sound delicious… ]

Quarter lengthwise a head of won bok (Chinese cabbage), or regular head cabbage.  Remove the bulky part of the head if possible.

Salt sparsely- preferably with Hawaiian sea salt, but common table salt will do.  Massage salt into cabbage chunks.  Cabbage should be limp. Rinse and drain if desired (optional).

Put cabbage (should be soft from being salted) into bowl, add some (a tablespoon or more) cooked rice to the bowl.  We used to use the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot that no one wanted to eat.  Adding rice adds a nice folksy flavor to the tsukemono, and is also optional (but deliciously advised).

If using those plastic contraptions with the screw down lid, you will limit the amount of cabbage you can pickle at a time because they are rather small.  Put the slightly salted cabbage with rice in, screw down as much as you can, and cover.  Check and screw down often.

Or, use a large glass or pyrex bowl and arrange the cabbage so it is an even layer.  Turn a glass or ceramic plate upside down to press down on the entire layer of cabbage, and put a weight on the plate.  You can also use a juice bottle filled with water to act as the weight.

After a few days, you will see liquid in the bowl with the cabbage.  This is the fermenting process happening.  Keep screwing the lid tighter to keep compressing the cabbage.  After a few days you can remove the cabbage, rinse off the rice, squeeze out excess water, chop, and then enjoy with your rice!

Experiment with other vegetables such as eggplant, mustard cabbage, daikon, etc.  Some vegetables need to be cut thin in order to ferment evenly.  Remember to salt prior to putting in bowl in order to make the vegetable soft and wilty.